Not everyday is a good day, live anyway
by cand13
Summary: Not everyone tells the truth, trust anyway. Not everyone will love you back, love anyway. Not every game will be fair, play anyway. How else could anyone survive what they have and still be that lively? ASL growing up with Whitebeard story.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 9/17/2018.

* * *

 **Prologue**

 _Not everyday is a good day,  
live anyway.  
Not everyone tells the truth,  
trust anyway.  
Not everyone will love you back,  
love anyway.  
Not every game will be fair,  
play anyway._

 _-Unknown_

Three young boys looked around the ship. There were bodies lying all over the deck, battered and bloodied.

"Are there anymore hiding somewhere?" The blond child asked. He was tired and just wanted to get back and get cleaned up, or as clean as they could get anyway. They were all covered with specks of dried blood here and there, and the itch was starting to get on his nerves. That wasn't counting the dirt, grime, and sweat they've accumulated.

"No more," mumbled the youngest of the group.

"Let's go then," the older brunette said tiredly as he brought out a Den Den Mushi. The job didn't take them long, but they were hungry from not being fed enough. A small loaf of nearly moldy bread and a glass of water two times a day wasn't enough for the three growing boys.

They walked on and over the bodies littering the deck of the ship as another ship pulled alongside, and they boarded. They were soon greeted by a large hairy man.

"Good job," the man sneered. "You may go back to your room and rest. There will be another job for you in the morning." He laughed as he walked away.

Their 'room,' as it was called, was one of four cells within the bowels of the ship, with barely enough room for more than three full-grown men each.

"I wish this nightmare would just be over," grumbled the blond once their guard left them, flopping onto the cold, hard cement floor.

"Me too, Sabo. Me too," grunted the older brunette as he made his way to a dark corner of their cell to grab the small water-filled bucket.

"Ace, hungry," whined the younger brunette.

"We are too, Luffy. Just deal with it. Let's just wash up and go to sleep. Maybe we can swipe some food tomorrow." Ace ruffled his little brother's hair affectionately.

Washing up consisted of just a bucket of dirty water and a dirty towel. At least they were able to get the blood off of them. Not much they could do with their clothes though.

The next morning, they were so tired that they didn't realize a guard had opened their cell door and had to be woken up with a kick to the stomach each. They curled up and groaned in pain before they got up and followed the guard. It was the same every time they didn't wake up before the doors were opened. The guards never talked to them, unless it was to insult them. The three boys just learned not to listen and didn't bother talking to the guards.

The hairy man from the day before, their current boss, greeted them in the debriefing room. "Good morning, boys. I have great news for you. Today's job is just a simple kidnapping."

Kidnapping is good, Ace thought to himself. That usually meant new clothes. New clothes meant they wouldn't get kicked out of restaurants for looking like sewer rats. Kidnapping also meant they had a few hours to themselves in a town without supervision, assuming they'd be dropped off at an inhabited island.

"Your target is this man," the guy shoved a picture in their faces. "Be sure to erase all evidence. Don't let anyone see you and be done by noon. Remember, do not kill him." The man left the room, and a guard walked in with a new set of clothes for them and whatever tools they would need for the mission.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I have this story already completed in my notebook. It's just going to take me some time to edit and post. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and sorry for any grammar errors. I'm trying.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 9/22/18.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Everything that happens  
helps you grow,  
even if it's hard to see right now._

 _\- Unknown_

Marco winced in pain as he opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, and he felt like shit. He looked around and found himself in an empty cell. How did he land himself there? What happened? The last thing he remembered is eating at a restaurant on an island with a few of his fellow commanders.

Then he remembered running after three kids who ate and ran out without paying. There was a little girl and two boys. He also remembered chasing them to the pier before they stopped and looked at him. And then what? Let's see, the girl turned to run up to him, looking oddly determined. Determined? What for? That was the last thing he remembered.

By the pain on the back of his head, he was probably attacked from behind while he was distracted by the kids. He hoped the kids were okay.

He shifted to a sitting position and found himself handcuffed with sea stone. Well, that explained why he hurt. Pain is not something he'd felt in a long time. Whoever caught him must have been really good to be able to catch him off guard like he was.

With nothing better to do, he just leaned back against the wall of his cell. Might as well wait and see who dared to mess with him and see what they wanted. The slight swaying of the cell told him that he was on a ship. He was sure Pops and his brothers would find him eventually.

Then he heard yelling from down the hall. It didn't sound too far away.

"What do you mean we messed up? We caught him didn't we? And no one saw us!" Marco thought it strange that the person sounded young, so very young.

"You were seen. I heard you were chased after you ate and ran without paying." an older, deeper male voice sneered. "You eat what I give you. You're not supposed to go out and do whatever you want. You would just draw unwanted attention. Take them away and teach them a lesson."

"No! Luffy!" two young voices yelled.

Marco watched as a man dragged two struggling and yelling boys to the cell across from his own. They were the boys who ate and ran with the little girl. Now he wondered where the girl had gone.

The cell door slammed shut, and the boys reached out in between the bars to the man and yelled,

"Luffy!" as agonizing screams were heard from somewhere further away on the ship.

The two boys moved to lean against the wall and curled in on themselves, covering their ears as best they could to block out the sounds of painful screams. It went on and on before the screams finally stopped, and another man, in the same uniform as the one that brought the two boys earlier, carried in a small unconscious body and tossed it in with the boys, where it landed painfully loud on the solid concrete floor.

"Luffy!" they both yelled in fear as they crawled over to inspect their companion. Marco recognized the dress. It was the girl who was with them earlier.

"No food for three days," was all the guard grunted with a bland expression as he turned to leave them.

One boy quickly pulled out an emergency kit from a corner of their cell, as the other undressed the girl to patch her up. Only now, Marco could tell it was a boy, not a girl. He could also tell the kid was in bad condition from where he observed them quietly.

Once they finished bandaging the poor kid, they sat there with their legs pulled up and stared at the boy. They weren't crying. Strange that. They look like they wanted to cry.

"I see you were caught too-yoi," Marco finally said, just wanting fill the dreary silence.

They both moved their eyes to glare at him.

"We weren't caught, you were," the brunette growled.

"We're the reason you're caught," the blond's eyes looked at him tiredly and a little red.

"This is your fault," they both said as they went back to staring at their injured cellmate.

"I see," Marco said in understanding. Well, that was a good way to get anyone off guard. No one would normally suspect a bunch of kids, especially ones that young. "Why didn't you just run away-yoi, instead of going through all that trouble of clubbing me and bringing me here?"

The two boys pointed to the injured boy's left foot. Then he saw the bomb collar, a small one but a bomb nonetheless, on the boy's small ankle. He looked over the other two and saw that they didn't have one.

That made a lot of sense. They seemed to be very close to each other. They used the small one as leverage against the older ones. That's how they punished them. They use the smaller one to get to the others. That just pissed Marco off. He really hoped his family finds him soon and give these bastards what they deserve.

"So how long have you been here-yoi?" Marco tried to get them to talk, not being used to the quiet. He had a large family, so his home was never quiet.

"Why does it matter?" the brunette huffed.

"You should worry about yourself," the blond mumbled from behind his arms.

"Just thought we'd talk and forget about being here-yoi," he offered. "I'm Marco."

"Ace," grumbled the brunette hesitantly.

"Sabo," the blond pointed to the injured boy. "That's our brother, Luffy."

Brothers. The three of them were brothers. "How old are you?"

Ace glared at the man before he answered, "We're 10. Luffy's 5 … probably."

"Probably?"

Sabo gave a small depreciating laugh. "Those idiots tossed him in with us when he was still a baby that couldn't talk. All he did was giggle and makes noises. We don't know anything about him other than his name."

Marco gave a frown at that. "How long have you kids been here?" he asked again slowly, pretty sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"Five years," the blond boy's exhausted answer was even more muffled as he lowered his face into his arms.

"We're tired. We're going to sleep," Ace declared as he curled up next to Luffy with Sabo slowly doing the same on the other side.

A few hours later, Ace heard the clanking of the cell door opening. He got up and woke Sabo up in the process, thinking they had another mission. Instead they found a guard in the cell across from theirs with the prisoner.

"Oh, hey," Marco greeted the guard with a cheerful smile. "Took you long enough to visit. I was starting to get lonely-yoi."

"Shut up," the guard growled before thrusting a Den Den Mushi at Marco. "Call your captain."

"You sure you want me to do that-yoi?"

"Just make the call."

Marco shrugged and made the call.

"Who calls?" the gruff voice on the other line answered, sounding put-off.

"Hey, Pops."

"Marco? Where are you? Thatch and Atmos just said you ran after some kids and never came back," the man on the other end sounded curious, rather than worried.

"Would you believe I got caught and am now a prisoner-yoi?" Marco smiled at the Den Den Mushi.

"Gurararara," the older man laughed. "Is that so? They haven't harmed you, have they, my son?"

"No, not a hair. Though, I may need a doctor or three-yoi," Marco said, eyeing the boy lying on the ground. The kid looked like he was having a hard time breathing.

The man on the other end hummed in concern. "Then? What do they want?"

The guard grabbed the Den Den Mushi. "We want you in exchange for him."

"Is that so? All right, then. Where would you like to meet?"

The guard rattled off a destination and hung up before he left.

"You don't seem too concerned," Ace said when he was sure the guard was too far away to hear them.

"Nah. Pops will take care of them-yoi," Marco waved it off. "They're messing with the wrong person."

"That must be nice, to have someone come get you back," Sabo said wistfully.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you'll be freed from here, too-yoi," Marco gave them a warm smile.

"Right. Don't get your hopes up," Ace went back to laying down next to Luffy. He ran his hand through the younger boy's hair in worry before bringing the boy's head closer to his chest and closed his eyes.

There was nothing else to do but to lay there. Luffy wasn't up. There was no one to play with, no one to teach of the outside world, no one to tell stories to. That's all Ace and Sabo could do. There's nothing else in their empty cell.

With Luffy out of commission, they just lay there with nothing to do. To them, Luffy is their world, a baby that was suddenly thrust at them to take care of. A small, tiny being that knew nothing of this terrible world that rejects them. Luffy is theirs. They want to protect him, but there was no hope for them ever leaving. If they left, there would be no one to watch over Luffy.

-*/-*/-*/

The next day, before the guard was able to kick them awake, Ace and Sabo got up to protect Luffy from the expected kick. The guard scoffed at them and told them to follow him. The man then went to unlock the other cell and told their prisoner to follow as well. The guard led them up to the open deck, where about twenty armed men and their leader stood in wait. Their leader didn't even acknowledge them.

"You two are to watch this man. Do not let him go until we have their captain," the guard told the kids. "And remember, if a fight breaks out, you are to protect me, otherwise …" he man trailed off, knowing the boys would get the hint. He handed the boys a pistol and a small dagger each.

The boys didn't say anything. They just took the offered weapons and placed them in their belts where they usually carried their weapons and just stood there, expressionless as they gave in to their fate. They had left Luffy in their cell alone. He was still unconscious when they left him. Hopefully, they'd be done and back before the boy woke up.

Marco saw the two boys eye the leader's hand that was playing with a device of some sort. It must be the device for the bomb. Too bad the man was too far away. If he was closer, then he'd have a better chance to make a grab for it.

He smiled when a familiar whale figurehead sailed closer. The large ship anchored right next to the ship they were on.

Whitebeard stood atop the figurehead and examined Marco, glad to see his son unharmed. Though he was concerned about the doctor comment. He had all their doctors in their station and ready for anything just in case. The rest of Whitebeard's crew stood at attention on the ship with their weapons drawn.

Ace and Sabo's eyes went wide at the sight. Why didn't the idiot leader tell the man to come alone?!

"I don't think even Lu can take on that many people," Ace whispered to Sabo.

Sabo nodded in agreement before a thought entered his mind. "Hey, you," Sabo hissed quietly, not wanting the leader to hear.

Marco nodded slightly to let the boy know he's listening.

"You said you'd free us too. Can you really do it? If not all three of us, at least Luffy. Please?" Sabo whispered.

The blond man only smirked confidently in response.

The large intimidating figure on the other ship laughed. "I thank you for keeping my son in one piece. Now, what is it you want from me?" The grin never left the man's face as if he wasn't dealing with a enemy.

"Your head, of course. If I can give your head to the Young Master, then I'll finally be recognized as part of the family," the leader laughed loudly. "Unless you want your precious Commander dead, you will give yourself to us."

Taking his cue, Ace cocked his pistol and pointed it at Marco's side. He'd aim for the head, but the man was a lot taller than he is, and with that angle, he wouldn't be able to hit his target if he had to kill him.

Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at that and looked at Marco. His son just eyed him steadily, relaying a silent message to his father figure. The large man nodded, which a guard took as an agreement and walked up to Whitebeard with a sea stone cuff.

Marco used that as a distraction and shot his leg out and swiped Ace's legs out from under him and dodged as the pistol went off. Then all hell broke loose as if the sound of the shot fired was the signal for the start of the battle. The men from Whitebeard's ship dropped down in droves onto the smaller ship and a battle ensued.

Marco took that moment to use his remaining strength to knock out both boys so they wouldn't have to fight. The sea stone cuffs were taking a toll on him.

"Marco!" a tall man with a light brown hair done up in a pompadour ran up to him with a sword in one hand.

"Thatch, we need to get a remote from that man-yoi," Marco explained to his friend urgently. "He might have the key to this too." He shook his confined wrists.

Thatch looked confused for a moment before he shrugged and took off.

Marco looked around at the one-sided battle, mildly surprised that no one was even bothering with him. It was pretty sad, really. It'd been only five minutes, and there were only a handful of enemies left. He called out to the closest member of his division to take the two boys to Moby Dick, so they'd be safe and out of the way.

Thatch had easily taken down the leader not minutes later and ran back over with a set of keys and the bomb release. "What's this for?" Thatch showed him the small device as Marco rubbed his free wrists, feeling whole again.

"The reason why I wish I was the one to kill that bastard," Marco growled. He looked around and saw that the battle is already over and his siblings cheering as they made their way back to their ship. There was nothing left for him to do here, so he walked back down to the cell area, with Thatch following. "I'll be right back-yoi," the First Commander called over to his captain.

As soon as Thatch saw the body of a naked and poorly bandaged young boy, he sucked in his breath. "What the fuck is going on here?!"

Marco opened up the cell and tested every key he had to take off the bomb anklet. "They've been using this boy to get those other two to do their bidding. This here," he took off the anklet and waved it in front of Thatch, "is a bomb collar-yoi, just one small enough for the ankle. I'm hoping the other two boys will have more answers. Seems this one's been here since before he could properly speak-yoi."

"Fuck."

"Took the word right out of my mouth."

Marco carefully cradled Luffy to his chest, noticing that each movement caused the boy to twitch in pain. They boarded Moby Dick, where everyone was ready and waiting for them to return before raising anchor and leaving the place. He walked past his captain wordlessly towards the infirmary, only giving a slight nod in acknowledgement.

Whitebeard frowned at the state of the young child. So that was what he needed the doctors for. It was a good thing they had a skilled pediatrician on board. He quickly gave orders to depart before he went to his room to wait for Marco to come by and give his report.

Marco was glad to see the two older boys conscious by the time he had Luffy settled and in a bed in the infirmary. It took some time, but he was able to assure the two children that they were finally free, and that Luffy will be taken care of, before he gestured for them to follow him.

Ace and Sabo turned to give their brother one last look before leaving the room.

Once they entered Whitebeard's room, the two boys looked at the large man with wide, fearful eyes. They knew who he was. They've seen his wanted poster, but they didn't think they'd actually meet the strongest man in the world, nor that he was this big! Now what have they gotten themselves into?

Whitebeard laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm not going to eat you. I just have some questions for you."

They answered the questions as best they could. There was no need to anger the strongest man in the world. They couldn't die there. They have a younger brother to take care of. A younger brother that needed them. A brother that knew nothing of the outside world. Who knew what these people would do to their brother if they weren't there to watch over him.

If they didn't have Luffy to care for, Sabo knew for certain Ace would have taken this chance to defeat the man known to rival Gol. D. Roger, just to make his mark in the world as his own person and not just that man's son. They may be stronger than your average kids, but even then, they were just kids. Even Ace knew they were no match for the man before them.

They told him about how they were kidnapped while out hunting on Dawn Island. How Luffy was just dumped on them to care for when he was a small baby. How they were forced to do random odd jobs for those people. Then how they were forced to kill people for them because kids are unsuspecting (Marco agreed with that). Then how they had to take Luffy with them on those jobs once he was able to walk without tripping over his own feet. They had to teach Luffy to defend himself because the jobs got harder and harder for them to protect him. If they didn't want to do something, the men would take it out on the younger boy to punish them. They'd been passed around to different ships to work for different people.

The last guy was the worst, always beating Luffy to the point that he couldn't walk. The last job was the first time they messed up by getting noticed doing their usual dine and dash, and the first time Luffy had been beaten that badly. They gave Marco a glare for messing up their plan and getting them in trouble.

"Yeah, sorry about that-yoi," Marco looked away from the glare, as he rubbed the back of his head in shame. "So, about this Young Master that guy was talking about, you wouldn't happen to know who that is, would you-yoi?"

Ace and Sabo paused at that. They know who the young master is. They'd never met the man before, but they had heard talks around the ships they were kept on.

Ace paused before he answered as if the person wasn't anyone important, "Some guy they call Joker."

"Shit," Marco hissed to himself, causing the two boys to flinch at the way it was said.

"Indeed. Joker, also known as Doflamingo, is a pirate that works for the government, part of the Seven Warlords. He's not someone we should pick a fight with without reason," Whitebeard sighed at the information given.

"Is there anywhere you want to go? Any family waiting for you? We can even take you back to Dawn if you'd like-yoi," Marco offered.

They both shook their head. "You can just drop us off at the next island," Sabo said. "We don't really have anyone waiting for us, but we can take care of ourselves." It'd be safer for them to stay away from Dawn. They would only cause a commotion if they showed up after being gone for so long. He wasn't lying when he told them there wasn't anyone waiting for them. He was sure Dadan and her gang and Makino thought they were dead.

Whitebeard gave it some thought before voicing it out loud. "Why don't you stay here with us for the time being? At least until we figure out what to do with you."

Just then they heard a few people yelling outside the door. They all quickly went to check what the commotion was.

Ace and Sabo were the first to notice a small bandaged figure weave in and out of the legs that were in its way. "Luffy!" they called out in horror. The small figure froze and turned his head to their voices.

As soon as he found his brothers, he dropped the small knife he had in his hand and ran up to them, crying silently in their arms. He had learned that if he wanted to cry, he had to do it quietly, or he would get hurt, and his brothers wouldn't like that. They said it hurt them to see him hurt. He didn't want them to hurt.

"Luffy, these people saved us. Don't attack them," Sabo admonished softly as he rubbed the boy's back.

Marco smiled at them before crouching to reach their eye level. "Hey there, brat," he greeted the youngest. "Shouldn't you still be resting in the infirmary-yoi?" He pointed to the blood seeping through the bandages.

Luffy griped his brothers' shirts in fear. He recognized this man. This was the man they kidnapped. He didn't understand what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being beaten because he ate yummy food. Then he woke up in an unknown place where this strange lady tried to attack him.

"Luffy, this is Marco," Sabo introduced. "He helped us. Tell him 'thank you.'" He gently pushed his little brother off them and turned the boy to face the older blond.

Now that they were free, Luffy needed to adjust to the outside world. Talking to someone other than them was a good start. The two boys waited patiently for the boy to say something. They could see that he was trying.

"Come on, Luffy. You can do it," Ace whispered encouragements to his brother.

Luffy had never talked to anyone besides the two of them. Even with them, he didn't say very much. Ace and Sabo had taught him to not talk to anyone as precaution. Who knew when Luffy might say something that would get them in trouble. Everyone they'd worked for simply assumed the boy couldn't talk.

Ace and Sabo held Luffy's hands as the boy opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say something. Luffy then started to feel dizzy before he blacked out.

The two boys caught him as he tilted forward. "Luffy?" They both said in alarm.

"I'm surprised that he's able to move around with those injuries," the woman who was taking care of Luffy said as she walked towards them. "It's no wonder he passed out. Just walking should be painful. Don't worry, nothing's broken, just some lacerations and bruises everywhere. I really mean it. Bruises everywhere," she scowled.

"What happened to your hand-yoi?" Marco pointed to the hand she was holding close to her chest.

"He bit me before he took off," she answered dryly. "The kid has a set of very sharp teeth and a strong jaw." She had the kids follow her back to the infirmary so she could take another look at Luffy to make sure he hadn't aggravate anything she had already treated.

"Marco," Whitebeard sounded like he had the weight of the world on his shoulder, "call Garp. See if he can do something about putting them in a foster care where they can stay together. I don't think they would take well to being separated. As much as I want to keep them, a pirate's life is no place for children that young, much less with us."

Marco smiled as he nodded and walked away. He knew the children interested the captain, but he was right. A pirate's life was too harsh for children, especially one that lives out in New World.

After finishing the call to the Vice Admiral and everything else that had been left undone while he was gone, Marco slipped into the infirmary. The sight brought a smile to his face. The three children were asleep in the same fashion as he had seen in the cell, with the two older boys hugging the youngest between them. He took a seat next to their bed and watched them, as a sense of tranquility washed over him.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Reviews are greatly appreciated. I usually don't respond to them though, because I don't have much time. So I just want you guys to know that your reviews are appreciated. Thank you~


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/17/18.

 **Chapter 2**

 _If something is over and done,  
don't hold on to it. Break free,  
move forward, and experience  
a new beginning._

 _-Joel Osteen_

Luffy slowly blinked his eyes open and took in his surroundings. At least this time, he knew where he was, kind of. He felt comfort from his brothers sleeping on either side of him. He turned his head to the side and lifted his head to look over Sabo's and saw a blond stranger giving him a small wave.

"Hey," the blond man greeted casually. Did he always look like he was tired? Or maybe he was tired. He needed a nap. Oh. What if he's not allowed naps here? What did Sabo tell him this guy's name was?

Marco watched as the boy sat up and looked at him with a wide-eyed blank expression. The funny thing about the look was that it felt like the boy was looking straight inside him. Maybe the kid was looking into his soul or something. He wanted to shake his head at that ridiculous thought. Luffy had such large clear eyes that Marco found himself unable to look away.

"Mar…co," the soft sound of his own name startled him. Marco stared at the kid with wide eyes of his own. His eyes shifted over to the older brunette when he heard a chuckle from the other side of the bed.

"Congratulations. You're the first person he's ever talked to, besides us," Ace drawled with a grin as he lifted his head from the bed to better see the man.

"Good job, Luffy," Sabo yawned as he reached up to pat the boy's head.

The praise caused the boy to smile, and what a smile it was. His smile was so bright that Marco could have sworn the sun was in the room. Marco placed his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand, feeling quite pleased with himself. "I'm honored-yoi."

"Well, now that you boys are awake, I need to do a checkup on little Luffy," a female voice said from the door.

"Kobato," Marco greeted.

"Marco," she returned before turning back to the boy in question. "I'm worried about all those old needle marks. Are you on some kind of medication for something?" Luffy only tilted his head, not understanding what she wanted to know.

"Ah, no," Sabo looked sadly at Luffy's arm. "They sometimes give him, uh, stuff. All different kinds to see what kind of reaction he would have. Their form of entertainment. We don't know what they were."

"And you two?" Kobato said angrily after a moments pause to take in what was just said.

"Just Luffy, and it was only for a few weeks. It started when we were sent to the last guy," Ace said as he and Sabo got up and moved to sit a little bit away from Luffy to give the doctor more room to work. Luffy got up to follow his brothers but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, causing him to stiffen in fear.

"It's okay, Luffy," Ace said. "We're safe here."

"This lady is a doctor. Doctors are people who make you feel better," Sabo explained.

Luffy relaxed and turned around to sit at the edge of the bed, facing the doctor. If Ace and Sabo said it's okay, then it's okay, but he didn't like the angry look she has. "Doc…tor," Luffy lifted his bandaged arms and looked back at his brothers. "Better?"

"That's right. If you get hurt or don't feel good, you go see a doctor. They make you feel better," Sabo said.

Kobato moved a chair to sit in front of her patient after moving all her tools to a nearby table. She smiled at the boy, all trace of anger gone.

Luffy's eyes followed her hands as she moved about to pick up something. He pointed at her hand which he had bitten earlier. "Sorry."

Sabo and Ace quickly grabbed their brother, dragging him into a tight hug, happy that he did something without them telling him to, causing the boy squawk and giggle. "Luffy, we're so proud of you!"

The doctor huffed as she watched them with a strained smile before she pulled the two boys off her patient. "That's cute and all, but I need to do my work," she told the boys, before turning to Luffy and giving him a smile. "Your apology is accepted. Just refrain from doing so again." Luffy tilted his head in confusion before looking to his brothers for clarification.

"She says, 'It's ok, but don't do it again.'" Sabo explained. Luffy looked back to Kobato and nodded.

"Lucky you," Marco said to the doctor, "you're the second person, besides these two, he's ever talked to-yoi."

Kobato gave him a smile and patted his head. "I guess I should feel special then."

As the doctor worked on him, Luffy turned to Marco, looking as if he remembered something. "Thank you."

"Huh? Oh, right-yoi," Marco finally remembered what Sabo had told Luffy to do before he passed out. "You're welcome-yoi."

Kobato sighed after finishing her checkup. "We're going to have to keep an eye on him for signs of withdrawal from whatever was administered. I don't have all the right equipment to do any tests to find out what they were. Let me know right away if he starts to act up. Everything looks good, besides a slight malnutrition. Thatch can handle that part. The lacerations will take some time to heal up, along with the bruises. There are no broken bones to worry about. How did he get this scar?" She pointed to the visible scar under Luffy's left eye which didn't look very old.

"Tripped and landed on a knife," Ace answered with a cringe.

She gave Luffy a look of disbelief. "You're lucky it didn't get your eye instead. Be careful next time."

She then looked to Sabo and gestured for him to come closer. "I need to check over you two as well." After she finished with the older two, she deemed them healthy enough. "You boys are malnourished also. I'll have Thatch bring you boys something good to eat. You're free to roam about but stay out of trouble and eat everything Thatch gives you. As for Luffy, he has to stay here until I say he can leave. It probably hurts just to move around. I'm surprised he didn't scream in pain from that hug."

-*/-*/-*/

The next few days, commanders came in and out to talk to the boys. They had heard about how the youngest was learning to communicate with new people and offered to help. Ace and Sabo had decided to wait on exploring the ship until Luffy was allowed to leave the infirmary.

At first the young boy would hide behind his brothers. Eventually, he got used to random people coming in to talk.

Izo was one of the first after Marco and Kobato. The kimono wearing man introduced himself as the head doctor of the ship and the commander of the 16th division. He had brought something for Luffy to wear, seeing as he was only clothed in the bandages Kobato had wrapped him in.

"It's just an old t-shirt from one of my men, but it'll have to do for now." The bright cheery smile brought warmth to his chest, and he smiled back fondly. "You can use this scarf as a belt, so you don't trip over it. We don't have any belts small enough to fit you."

"Thank you?" Luffy said slowly and looked to his brothers to see if he said the right thing.

"Don't mention it. If you boys need anything, just ask for me or Kobato. Kobato is the only Pediatrician on board, so she's the one you should to go to for treatment. If you can't find either one of us, just come in here or grab anyone from the 16th Division. My division specializes in the medical field, mostly doctors and nurses."

"Actually," Sabo said shyly, rubbing the back of his head, "we'd really appreciate a bath?"

The Commander looked at the boys thoughtfully before coming to his decision. "You two can. Luffy will have to wait until we take his bandages off." Now that Izo really looked at them, they were filthy. Kobato did well in towel bathing the young one before bandaging him. "I'll bring something for you boys to wear also. So just toss what you have on."

It took some convincing to get Luffy to stay in bed while the two older boys went to clean themselves with a nurse to guide them to the bath. While the boys were gone, Luffy withdrew himself under his blanket, until they came back.

Izo had no idea what to do with the boy during that time. He even tried to engage the brat in a game of peek-a-boo, only to feel embarrassed to be doing something like that at his age. At least Kobato came by and saved him from feeling awkward.

Thatch would always come in with something for them to eat. He had left them soup and rice porridge their first day there while they were asleep, so he didn't get a chance to talk to them. The first time he brought food when they were awake, he found it amusing and watched fondly as the two older boys fed Luffy. They picked up each item and set in front of the small boy, telling him what it was before he ate it. After that, the Fourth Division Commander took over the food identifying lessons.

"That's a banana, a fruit," Thatch said has he handed the boy the yellow fruit.

"Banana fruit."

"Banana. Fruit is the food category."

The boy looked confused. "Confuzing. So banana or fruit?"

Thatch sighed, giving up on teaching the boy food categories. He'd learn eventually as he grew older. "It's a banana."

"Okay. Banana." Luffy opened his mouth to take a bite.

"Wait. You have to peel it first," Thatch glared at the laughing duo on each side of his student.

"Do what?"

"Peel it. Like this. Now you can eat it. Just this part, don't eat the peel."

"Mushy," the boy said with his mouth full.

"You don't like it?"

"No. Like it." He liked everything Thatch had brought them. Though the first time the head cook brought bread, it wasn't well received at first.

Luffy picked up the small loaf with a pout. "Bread."

Thatch wasn't really surprised that was the first thing the boy was able to identify on his own, but he was surprised that the boy didn't seem to like it. "You don't like bread?"

"Bread," the boy said with distaste and stuck his lower lip out further, holding the offending food towards Thatch.

"Don't be picky, Luffy," Ace told him. "You have to eat everything. Always eat everything you're given. You never know when your next meal will be."

It didn't go unnoticed by the older man that the other two hadn't touched their bread yet either. "While that's true in most cases, with me here, you'll never go hungry. Besides, it's not just any bread. It's Rosemary Bread. Try it. You might like it." He watched as the boy pouted even harder and took a small bite from the loaf, then began to chomp on it with gusto. He laughed. "Good, right?"

"Mm. Yummy." Seeing how much their younger brother enjoyed the bread, Ace and Sabo picked up their loaves and gave them a wary look before taking a bite, then downed it in the same manner.

Luffy had liked Vista's mustache. Seeing the muscular man finger his mustache, Luffy attempted pull it off once the commander got within reach, wanting to try it on himself.

"Sorry, brat, but this is something you get once you're a real man," Vista teased as he rubbed his mustache from the painful pulling, causing the boy to tilt his head, not understanding what the swordsman was saying.

Blenheim only stopped by and stuck his head in for a few minutes and waved, not wanting to startle the boys with his intimidating size. He had his fair share of scaring people just by being in a room. He wasn't the only one on board with that same problem. He'd just try again once he was sure he wouldn't scare the boys too much. Kingdew, Atmos, Curiel, and Fossa did the same.

Only with Fossa, just sticking his head in the room caused the boys to just stare at the scars on his face. Ace and Sabo had automatically pushed Luffy behind them in response to just seeing his face. To which the 15th Division Commander just sheepishly rubbed his head and apologized for his scary face and to assure them that he wasn't going to attack them.

Jozu thought Luffy had an interesting first reaction to him. He had intended to do as his fellow larger brothers did and just take a peek in to introduce himself so as to not scare the kids, but the smallest brat's wide eyes on him stopped him in his tracks before he could even introduce himself. The next thing he knew, the two older brats were scrambling to grab their younger brother, as the kid scurried and somehow climbed his way on to his head to pull at his hair.

"Luffy! Get down from there!" the blond yelled at the boy.

"What are you doing? That's dangerous," the brunette called out as he pawed at Jozu's legs to get to his brother.

"Ball," Luffy simply stated in a happy tone, oblivious to his brothers' distress. "Ball." There went another tug at his hair.

Jozu reached up to pull the boy off his head as the kid cried and pouted about the 'ball.' "That's my hair, brat. Not a ball."

"Ball," the kid repeated with determination, reaching his hands out to his hair, pouting. "BALL!" he wailed and squirmed in Jozu's hands when he realized he wasn't getting the round thing on the man's head.

Jozu was saved from another ear breaking scream when Speed Jiru, who had happened to be nearby to hear the beginning of the tantrum, stopped by with an actual ball and handed it to the boy.

"Ball!" the boy cheered as he took the ball from the 14th Division Commander and walked back to his bed in contentment.

"Sorry about that," both Ace and Sabo bowed.

"He's been wanting one since he first saw some kids play with it a few years back," Sabo rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm surprised he still remembers it, even more surprised that he didn't listen to us," Ace mumbled as he turned to watch Luffy bounce the ball unsuccessfully on the bed.

Both of the commanders laughed at the look of disappointment. Jiru walked in and took the ball from the end of the bed, where it had rolled to and explained that the ball wasn't going to bounce on the bed. He then showed the boy by bouncing it up and down on the wooden floor, causing Luffy to squeal and cheer.

On their third day, Blamenco had found the three boys in the hall, with Sabo carrying Luffy. The Commander gave them a suspicious look when Ace herded them behind him once the man was in sight. "What are you three doing? I thought Izo said the little one isn't to leave the infirmary yet."

"Nothing," Ace replied too quickly and piqued the Commander's suspicions.

"You three aren't trying to run away are you? I swear no one here is going to kill you or anything. If we wanted to, we would have done it already, instead of spending so much time treating you boys."

"No, no, not at all," Sabo quickly replied with a shake of his head and a tentative smile from behind Ace. "We believe you. It's just that, um, Luffy needs to pee?"

"Is that so?" the gray-toned man raised an eyebrow at the way the statement was said. His large size made it easy for the man to peer over Ace, them being kids also helped, to get a better look at the two behind him. "Hey, why's the kid crying?" he asked when he noticed Luffy sniffling with his face buried in the blond's shoulder.

"Nothing. He's fine," Ace insisted as he attempted to walk away, keeping himself in front of his brothers. Sabo shuffled behind to keep him and Luffy partially hidden.

Blamenco let them pass without question before a smell caught his attention. He smirked at them, causing the two older boys to freeze. "The kid wet himself didn't he?" He laughed at the cautious look they threw at him. "Why didn't you say so? I'll see if someone has any extra clothes for you boys and have someone take care of your bed. Go clean yourselves up."

The two older boys gave the commander's back a look of surprise, as the man walked away, shaking his head and laughing to himself. They thought for sure Luffy would have gotten in trouble for wetting himself. Sabo's parents would always yell at him when he did it and Dadan was no better. She would smack Ace around and make him clean his own bedding.

Namur was a little hesitant in meeting the boys. Being a fishman had given him plenty of bad experiences with meeting new people, especially the ignorant ones. That didn't stop Haruta from dragging him through the infirmary door with him.

He was relieved and a little confused when none of them even gave him a second look. He decided to not question it and just sat there as Haruta did most of the talking. At one point during his short stay in the room, the little one had gotten off the bed and walked in front of him. The blue commander was then presented with a green rubbery ball that he remembered seeing in Jiru's room before. Why his brother even had one, was beyond him. Not that it mattered what his brothers kept in their rooms.

"You want me to play with you?" Namur asked with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged at the enthusiastic nod he received and lightly tossed the ball at the boy, who then caught it and tossed it back to him.

By the time Luffy was able to leave the infirmary, he'd already met all sixteen commanders at least once or twice. The first thing Ace and Sabo did when Luffy was cleared to leave the infirmary was to take the small boy to the deck for some fresh air.

There were a lot of people they hadn't met yet, just loitering around. They waved and greeted the trio as they passed. A few came to introduce themselves and chat a bit but not for too long.

Luffy mostly hid behind his brothers and didn't talk to anyone. That didn't seem to bother anyone, and the two older brothers were fine with that. It was still progress in Ace and Sabo's book.

They walked over to an empty space and looked between the rails at the sea in awe.

"Pirates?" Luffy asked his brothers.

"Yeah. Good pirates," Sabo said with a smile.

"Good pirates?"

"Pirates are just like everyone else," Ace said. "Like how there are good people and bad people. Bad pirates would have killed us already or used us like that bastard," he growled the last part.

"Free," Luffy said in awe. He'd heard so many stories about pirates from his brothers. They told him about their dream of wanting to be pirates so they could be free. He wanted to be a pirate too, so he could show his brothers freedom.

-*/-*/-*/

Marco woke the three boys up in the infirmary, where they had slept for the past three weeks since there was nowhere else for them. "Wake up. There's someone here to see you-yoi."

That woke Ace and Sabo up quickly. Who would want to see them? How did they know they were here?

At their alarmed look, Marco told them that they had spoken to someone about giving them a place to stay, since it would be too dangerous for three children to stay aboard a pirate ship. That calmed them a bit but not much.

As they made their way to the deck, they could see a muscular man in a white uniform talking with Whitebeard. The familiar marine uniform had them hesitating. Marines were their enemies. Marines would want Ace dead if they ever found out about his heritage. Why was there a Marine on a pirate ship, talking, and laughing with its captain as if they were buddies?

But when the marine turned his face just a fraction, both Ace and Sabo faltered in their steps before running full speed towards the man with their arms wide open. "SHITTY GRAMPS!" they yelled.

Garp's eyes widened, not believing his eyes as two very familiar boys ran towards him. As if in a trance, he lifted his arm to punch each boy on the head before they even touched him, causing them to cry out in pain.

"Never thought I'd miss that," Ace laughed as he grabbed the painful lump on his head.

"Never thought I'd miss seeing Shitty Gramps," Sabo grinned with his brother, also nursing a painful lump.

Luffy, seeing his brothers getting hit, wanted to run up to the man and beat him up, but Marco stopped him. Luffy looked at him in confusion, then looked back to his brothers as they laughed. Why were they laughing after getting punched? Well, at least they were okay with it. He just held onto Marco's pants with one hand and his ball with the other as he followed the man's leisurely pace to the group.

"Ace? Sabo? Is it really you boys?" Garp asked in shock.

"Yup!" Ace grinned, with his fists on his hips.

"In the flesh," Sabo also grinned.

Garp pulled them into a hug and sobbed like a child. "I thought I'd never see you two again. You just up and disappeared. And Dadan, that old hag, said you guys got kidnapped right in front of her." He wiped away his tears and gave them a humorous grin. "Would you believe she tore down the whole forest looking for you guys? I bet she didn't think you'd be out here." He laughed loudly.

"Yeah, we were hunting rabbits for dinner, while the old hag just sat there and did nothing," Ace huffed as wiped his tears and crossed his arms, before he gave a fond smile. "She really did that, huh?"

"Seems you three know each other," Whitebeard broke up their tearful reunion.

"My grandsons," the Marine gave the large man a huge smile, before he frowned. "Who's that?" he motioned his head towards Marco's leg, where Luffy stood, feeling lost and confused.

"That's Luffy," Sabo answered. "He was kidnapped too. Not too sure why they would want to kidnap a baby though."

Garp's eyes widen at the name. "Luffy? Baby?"

"Yeah. What's wrong, Gramps?" Ace asked at the man's renewed tears.

Instead of answering, the man let go of the two and crawled the couple of feet over to the confused boy and said softly as more tears came down, "Monkey D. Luffy, we've never met, but I'm your grandpa." This stunned the group. No one ever told them Luffy's full name, not even Ace or Sabo knew what it was. "You're so big. I'm so sorry I've missed so much." He brought the kid into a tight hug, his shoulders shaking. "Whitebeard, I can't even tell you how much this means to me."

"Ball!" Luffy reached his hands out to his escaped toy, only for it to be handed back by Marco. He had no idea what was going on. His brothers cried, then they laughed. That means they're not hurt right? Then this old guy hugs him a little too tight and cried even harder than his brothers did. Is this old man okay? Is he hurt?

Whitebeard only gave the graying man a fond smile. "Why don't we take this to my room, and we can talk. I'm sure we all have questions."

Ace and Sabo once again told their story of what happened with them and how Luffy came along.

Garp gave the two boys a proud smile, letting them know how proud he was that they were able to take care of a toddler and themselves so well. Then he spoke seriously with Whitebeard. "Now that it's come to this, I can't take these boys. I think it's best to leave them here with you. Your name alone will keep them safe," Garp continued at the captain's confused look. "My son, Dragon."

Whitebeard's eyes widened at those few words in understanding. It wasn't common knowledge that Dragon was Hero Garp's son, and it completey slipped his mind.

"You want us to keep him safe from the government." Garp nodded. "I see."

"Gramps, what do you mean?" Ace asked.

"Luffy's dad is currently the most dangerous and most wanted man in the world. If the government finds out about Luffy …" he knew the two boys would understand. Ace was in the same situation after all.

Ace grabbed Luffy in a tight hug, with the smaller boy's back to his chest. "Luffy has nothing to do with his shitty dad. Luffy is Luffy! What does his blood have to do with anything?!"

Garp nodded in agreement, "Luffy was on a ship headed to Dawn Island, where he could have lived in peace when he was taken a little over a year before you boys. Dragon didn't want his burden to drag his child down. Luffy," he looked to the boy, "my stupid son, your dad, left me a message for you. 'Live your life the way you want. You are your own person. Live freely.'"

Ace and Sabo looked surprised at the message. His dad wanted his son to live his own life and not be tied down by his blood. Ace wondered if that's what his dad, Gol D. Roger, would have wanted for him too, and if that was the reason why Garp had taken him in.

"I guess we don't have much choice, then. We'll stay here," Ace crossed his arms.

Garp gave the boys a warm smile. "You boys have changed."

Ace looked away in embarrassment. "It's what babies do to you," he repeated what he overheard Dogra say to Dadan one night. This caused the men in the room to laugh.

"Yeah, well, we may have another problem though," Sabo said. "Luffy's, well, how do I explain this? Different? We wanted to keep it a secret, just in case, but if Gramps trusts you guys …"

"What do you mean-yoi?" Marco asked.

"Luffy, how many people are on the ship next to this one?" Sabo asked the boy, rather than answering the question.

Luffy tilted his head while still being held by Ace. "Thirteen."

Garp narrowed his eyes at the boy. "How do you know that?" He did bring thirteen of his most trusted men with him.

"Somehow."

"Well, that's interesting-yoi," Marco whistled. "I've heard of children being born with Haki, but I've never met one-yoi."

"Um," Sabo started uncertainly, "not sure what that is, but there's another problem." The men looked at him to continue, but Ace picked up the rest of the explanation.

"He's a genius when it comes to fighting. He learns just by watching. He's not strong, but he's good, especially with weapons."

"Great," Marco muttered sarcastically before sighing. "That's not good-yoi. There would be all sorts of wrong people after him if anyone learns about that. I take it, that's what you three had been doing, fighting-yoi?"

"Yeah," Sabo nodded. "Since he learns so fast, he's actually our main fighting force. Ace and I are his backup."

"That's kind of why you were lucky Lu wasn't able to fight that time," Ace winced. "You still would have won, there're too many of you guys, but at least the idiot leader would have had a fighting chance. If Lu were there, there would have been a lot more casualties."

"We just want you to know what comes with keeping us here," Sabo said. "Just in case, you know ..."

"Speaking of which, Ace, Sabo," Garp gave the boys a steeled look, "I believe you should tell them everything they're up against with you two also staying here. As you've said, I trust these people. Everything said in here today will not be slipped to anyone else. Do you understand?"

Ace glared at the man, knowing what he was saying. In the end they both nodded and stood tall, ready for whatever may come their way.

"Newgate, if you need any more convincing to keep them here, it's not just Luffy that needs the protection." Garp looked to the boys for them to tell their own tales.

Sabo looked up to Whitebeard and started first. "My name's Sabo. I'm a noble, but I ran away from my family because I don't agree with their despicable ways. They don't care about anything but their status. All humans that aren't born a noble are considered trash. They'll do anything to get me back so I don't tarnish their name."

Garp nodded, letting the other two men know what the boy said was true. "They've gone as far as hiring a local pirate to get him back. Dadan didn't tell me the whole story about that."

Sabo rubbed the back of his hair as he smiled. "Dadan and the rest of the gang rescued me and Ace."

"And you?" Whitebeard looked at Ace with interest.

Ace flinched but took a step forward and looked at Whitebeard. He squared his shoulders and readied his resolve. "I'm Portgas D. Ace, real name is Gol D. Ace, son of Gol D. Roger."

Whitebeard's eyes softened. "Roger's son."

The fondness in which it was said confused the boy. "Wasn't Roger your enemy?"

"We were rivals. We were also drinking buddies, but enemies, we were not," Whitebeard looked up, lost in memories. "The world may think of him as a dangerous man, but those who knew him, know better. He was a good man."

Ace was thoroughly confused. Everyone he'd talked to talked about the late Pirate King as some kind of monster that deserved his death, but the man he thought of as Roger's enemy talked about the late Pirate King as if they were good friends.

"We are all children of the seas. Your lineage does not matter here, be it a runaway son of nobles or two children whom the government believes should never have been born," Whitebeard declared. "Garp, you're always delivering something troublesome." Whitebeard laughed. "Fine. They stay. From now on, you boys will be Whitebeard Pirate's cabin boys. You have to pull your own weight around here," he grinned at the boys.

"Don't understand," Luffy said.

"He means, we can stay, but we have to do some work to help out," Sabo explained.

Luffy titled his head. "Work?"

"We just have to help clean and run errands," Ace explained.

Luffy brightened at that. "Oh. Okay. What grandpa and dad?"

That one statement brought a stunned silence to the room. As one, the adults turned their heads to look at the two older children.

"What?" they boys yelled defensively.

After what felt like an eternity, they somehow managed to teach the young boy what a grandpa and a dad were. It wasn't easy as they had to explain other things just to explain what they were explaining. The result ended up being, "Grandpa and dad people. Ace and Sabo parent."

"Sure, kid," Marco sighed with his face buried in his hands. Who knew teaching a brat the basic structure of a family would be so frustrating.

The two older boys smiled, relieved that some of their problems were solved, and their Gramps, the only person they truly trusted, was within reach to help them.

"Um, by the way," Ace turned to Garp, "why are you here? I mean, on a pirate ship? You're a marine, right?"

"You mean you've never told them?" Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at that.

Garp laughed. "I work with pirates," he said as if it wasn't important. "Of course, only the ones I like. I help them; they help me. Don't tell anyone though." He laughed again at their stunned reaction. "I'm taking my grandsons for a few weeks for an overdue bonding time." He decided.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Someone asked why there's a pediatrician on the ship. She's there for her own selfish reason. ^_^v Don't worry. She'll be explained later. I just don't remember which chapter, though...


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/17/18.

 **Chapter 3**

 _It's your life. Don't let anyone make  
you feel guilty for living it your way._

 _\- Unknown_

Garp had taken the boys to an island to do some shopping. He'd changed out of his marine uniform and into his 'vacation' clothes, consisting of a brightly colored tropical shirt, long shorts, and sandals.

Sabo was grateful they found clothes similar to the ones he'd worn before. They were comfortable to him, not to mention he had missed his top hat which was also replaced. The crazy old man may be crazy, but he did remember what the boys liked wearing, even after all that time away from them.

It was a great bonding time to make up for the years they missed, not that Garp was with them that often before, something the old man regretted. Their grandpa had taken them to store after store, buying them just about anything they asked for. Though it was mostly necessities.

The group was about to walk past a toy store, but Luffy had stopped to look at the window full of things that would interest kids their age.

"Why don't we go in?" Without waiting for an answer, Garp herded them into the store, letting them stroll around looking at whatever caught their fancy.

Luffy's eyes were so wide at all the new things he was seeing that he didn't notice his two brothers leaving him behind to look at something else. Garp had stayed with the youngest to watch over him with a sad smile on his face. The grief he felt when he learned that his own grandchild, whom he had never gotten to meet, had been kidnapped had been overwhelming. When he learned the two other grandchildren he'd adopted were also taken a year later, he didn't let anything stop him from looking for them, leaving no stones unturned. Two years later, he finally stopped, grieving his loss.

Now that he'd gotten all three back, he was going to leave them again. At least this time he knew where they were, and that they would be safe there. But the look of wonder and excitement over every little thing on Luffy's face made his heart ache, wanting to be there for them every step of their growth. With the government actively hunting down his idiotic son, there was no way they would be able to live in peace like a normal family. Not that living with pirates would make things normal.

He followed Luffy around the small store as the kid looked at everything in fascination, until they stopped at a wall of stuffed animals. He noticed the kid staring at a stuffed dog that was at his eye level.

Luffy tentatively moved his hands to touch it and a large smile grew on his face. He picked it up and rubbed it against his face, enjoying the feel of the soft, plush material.

"You want that, brat?" Luffy nodded and giggled with the dog clutched tightly to his face. "All right. Let's go find your brothers and pay for that." He gave the kid a light pat on the back.

Later Luffy stopped in front of another store, this time bringing confusion to the other three's faces.

"Luffy, there's nothing you'd want in there," Ace said slowly as he carefully looked through the store window to see what caught his brother's eyes.

"Want," the three of them looked at what the boy pointed to.

"Luffy, that's a dress," Sabo said uncertainly. "I know you've worn them before, but dresses are for girls. You're a boy."

"Want," Luffy said insistently. "Pretty!"

"What?" Garp all but yelled at his grandson's taste in clothing. "You think that thing is pretty?! The one next to it is much prettier!"

This time Ace and Sabo looked at the frilly pink dress their grandpa pointed to in horror. "No!"

"PRETTY!" Luffy continued to point at the other, less frilly, pale green dress.

The two boys looked on in embarrassed amusement as the oldest and the youngest of their group argued about which dress looked prettier. Giving up on the ridiculous argument, they pickpocketed their grandpa and went in the store to buy the dress Luffy wanted and a couple others. Why not? Luffy'd never been this assertive about wanting anything before (besides the whole ball incident), so what's the harm in indulging him?

They came back to see that the arguing duo had garnered an audience. Ace glared at the ones giving his brother a disgusted look. What was so wrong with his brother wanting to wear a dress? Sure he, himself, wouldn't be caught dead in one, but that's his little brother!

Sabo only heaved a sigh and announced that they'd already bought the dress for Luffy. So Gramps should just give it up, and let Luffy wear what he wanted.

Now, they were on an uninhabited island full of huge foliage, waiting for Whitebeard to pick them up. Garp had left them on their own after a quick sparring match with them. He'd taken time off for too long and had to get back to work. The spar left the man with knowledge that the boys would be able to take care of themselves. Though, Ace and Sabo were pretty sure the old man just wanted to beat them up for old-time's sake. They were just glad that Luffy was left out of it.

Just before he left, Garp sat down with Ace on the beach, while Sabo and Luffy were off playing in the shallow parts of the water.

"Ace," the man started solemnly, "your father ...," he heaved a sigh and paused, thinking of how to tell his grandson. "Gol D. Roger wasn't captured by me. He was already dying when he turned himself in. While he was in prison, he told me about your mother and asked me to protect the unborn you. Remember when you asked me if it was good that you were alive?" Ace could only nod numbly as he listened to his grandfather.

"I still stand by my answer. You'll only know by living. When I first held you, Ace, I knew right then, that I'd protect you as if you were my own grandson. It didn't matter that you weren't my blood. To me, you are my grandson, just as Luffy and Sabo are. I know I wasn't there for you much but believe me when I say I was only doing what I thought was best. I raised you and Sabo both to be strong marines, just so you would be where I could watch over you. But with how things turned out, I think living out your dream to be a pirate is the next best plan. At least with Whitebeard, I know you'll be safe."

Ace threw himself at the old man and gave him a hug, trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up. He was grateful for this man he called Gramps. "Thank you."

Garp placed a hand softly on the boys back. "Just be careful out there and don't get caught. There's only so much I can do for you boys now."

-*/-*/-*/

"I can't believe Garp left those kids on this island of all places," Thatch complained as they neared the island. "I mean, yes, uninhabited, but really? There are tons of dangerous animals here that wouldn't think twice about eating those kids."

Thatch, Marco, and Vista quickly rowed their boat to the beach once they realized the boys weren't waiting where they were told they should be.

"Dammit, where did they go-yoi?" Marco said as he turned his head this way and that to look for them. "Didn't that damn marine tell them this is the only part of the island the animals don't go near-yoi?"

"There!" Vista pointed. "I see smoke. Something must have happened."

The three of them tore through the large foliage towards the direction of the smoke. They stumbled to a stop at a clearing, shocked at what they found. The three boys, now in new, clean clothes (well, two were clean), were sitting around a campfire eating what looked like a tiger two times the normal size.

"What took you guys so long?" Sabo said in between bites.

"Yeah, we got bored," Ace said around a mouthful of meat.

Luffy didn't even acknowledge them as he tore into the meat that he had in each hand. He was the only dirtied one there.

The men stared in amazement at the large piles of bones next to each child and wondered how much these boys could actually eat. With nothing better to do, they sat down with the boys and waited for them to finish eating. They ate some as well just to pass the time.

"Please tell me you don't always eat this much," Thatch whined as the boys finished eating.

"Well, me and Sabo did. Didn't know Luffy could eat that much too," Ace wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Feels like we haven't eaten that much in a long time," Sabo fell to his back, satisfied that his stomach was now filled. "Finally full."

"So you guys took this thing down yourselves?" Vista asked.

"Yeah!" Luffy finally spoke, with much enthusiasm. "I run, and it chase me. Then Ace and Sabo hit it."

"You used your brother as bait-yoi?!" Marco looked at the two in disbelief.

"How else were we supposed to catch a tiger?" Sabo looked at them questioningly. "That's how Dadan used to do it."

"Good lord," Marco swiped his hand down his face. "Anyway, it's time to go. Come on-yoi."

"Aww, want more gator. Yummy," Luffy pouted. During their short time away from the ship, he'd learned to express himself and, to Ace and Sabo's annoyance, become much more demanding.

"NO MORE GATOR!" Ace and Sabo smacked the boy on the head.

"You nearly got eaten, you little shit," Ace yelled at his brother.

"What?!" the three men turned their wide eyes to them.

"Luffy thought they were moving steppingstones and thought it'd be fun to stomp all over them," Sabo grumbled with crossed arms. "One ate him. Then we killed it and pulled him out. He's never allowed near another gator."

The two older boys grabbed the bags of things that Garp had bought for them, and they headed back.

"Oh, yeah," Ace said as they walked up the plank to Moby Dick. "Not sure if this is important, but Gramps says Luffy is seven. We just assumed he was five, since that's how long he's been with us, and he was tiny."

"Seven, huh?" Thatch looked the boy in question up and down. "That's not good. He's way too small for his age. Four or five I would believe. I'll be sure to let Kobato know."

"That's what we thought too. We were bigger than that when we were his age. Might be because he didn't eat enough?" Sabo asked. "All they fed us was bread and water, two times a day."

"We did go around stealing food when we had the chance, though," Ace said.

"And that's how you guys survived-yoi," Marco concluded. That explained why they weren't as malnourished as they could have been. Bread and water was not enough for growing children. "Well, Kobato said you guys are healthy enough. I guess we shouldn't worry too much about his size-yoi."

"We're going to need to restock again soon, if these guys eat like that all the time," Thatch moaned.

"You don't have to. We can eat less. We're fine with the portions you've been giving us," Sabo said.

"We don't want to be a burden after all the trouble we've caused you. I mean, we did kidnap Marco, and you guys are taking care of us. That's already enough."

"It's my job to make sure everyone on this ship eats their fill," Thatch winked at them. "Besides, I already told you that no one goes hungry when I'm in charge. So if you're still hungry, just say so."

"I actually want to know how you kids to managed to kidnap Marco," Vista mused with his hand on his chin in thought.

"Children are less suspicious-yoi," was all Marco grumbled as he led the boys to his room, while Thatch and Vista took the boys' bags to the room they prepared for them. Once there, he handed each of the boys a sheet of paper. "These are your list of chores on this ship. You're free to do them whenever you want-yoi, but they need to all be done at least once a week. You'll also be running various errands as we need-yoi. You can do what you want during your free time."

Luffy turned his sheet sideways and upside down and tilted his head, before he asked Marco, "What this?"

"Sorry," Sabo said and took the paper from the boy to look over with his own. "He can't read. Didn't have anything to teach him with. We'll do these chores together, that way they'll be done faster. Luffy wouldn't know how to do any of these things."

"I see-yoi. In that case I think I can spare some time to help him learn. Come, I'll give you a tour of the ship and show you where everything is. You can start tomorrow since the day's almost over-yoi."

He showed them to the room they had prepared for them while they were gone. It was right across from the First Division Commander's room. "If you need anything, just ask any of the commanders or Pops, though, I'm in charge of you three-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

As the months passed, the boys were falling into the routine of cleaning, lessons, playing, lazing about, and chasing a naked Luffy after every bath. It didn't take them as long as it first did to do their chores. They even had to teach Luffy many every day things as the days went along.

The ship was huge, which was why Marco had originally split up their chores, with each boy cleaning separate sections of the ship. Now he'd learned that it was much quicker when they worked together. Usually one or the other would get distracted by something and someone would have to get him back on track. Or in Luffy's case, clean up the mess that he made.

Whitebeard was pleased by how fast they were learning to adjust to their new family.

Since it didn't take them nearly as long to finish their chores, they had more free time, and there was only so much they could do on a ship. Now they were bored. So they went to Whitebeard and asked him for a favor, which the captain laughed and agreed to, as long as they told Marco and Blamenco about it.

-*/-*/-*/

The galley was filled with hungry pirates. Noisy as they were, one table in particular went silent as they heard kids laughing underneath them. The group looked under the table and found nothing.

"I could have sworn I heard the kids laughing," Haruta mused.

"So did I," Izo agreed.

They heard it again, this time the two surrounding tables went silent and inspected under their tables as well. Marco grinned. He knew what the boys were up to, but he wasn't going to say anything. The boys wanted to keep this a secret.

"Marco, you know what's going on, don't you?" Thatch accused from beside his brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about-yoi," Marco said as he picked up his empty plate and walked away.

This went on. The men would hear the kids but not see them. More often than the laughs, they could hear the sound of pounding and other tools at work. It was starting to creep some of them out.

"It's like a haunted house," someone said.

When the kids were out and about doing their chores, some would come up and ask the boys what they'd been up to. Their answers were always less than helpful.

"Play hide and seek," would be Luffy's answer.

The other two would just say it's a secret.

They were even more confused when Luffy would show up out of nowhere, but that wasn't what surprised them the most. It was the fact that he would sometimes show up wearing a dress of all things. Not that it didn't look good on him, but Luffy was a boy, right?

"Why is Luffy in a dress?" Vista asked the first morning over breakfast.

"Why not?" Ace shrugged.

"He said it was pretty, so Gramps 'bought' it for him," Sabo explained. "He has more than one. We're not going to stop him from wearing what he wants. Getting him to remember to wear clothes is bad enough."

The commanders at the table nodded and said no more. Besides, Izo liked to wear female kimonos, so what's the difference?

Each time they reached an island under Whitebeard's protection, the boys would run off on their own after being told when the ship would leave. And each time, Marco would hand them a small pouch of money to spend. They would always tell him that they'd pay him back, but Marco didn't mind. He was a pirate. He had more where that came from, and when he ran out, well, let's just say he knew just how to get more.

The boys would always come back covered in dirt, looking like they had the time of their lives and bringing back things they bought on the islands.

On the islands that weren't under their protection, Marco would go with them.

One day, the ship was attacked by an enemy pirate. The stupid kind that thought they could take Whitebeard's head and gain instant fame. They were still in Grand Line, so the enemies were no match for them. Rarely do the stronger ones leave New World, not wanting to lose their place in their journey.

The three boys sat with their backs against the cabin wall, hugging their legs, keeping out of the way, as they watched the battle. They could tell it was horribly one-sided, and the Whitebeard crew was taking their time. Marco told them to stay out of the way, and now they were bored. Then an idea came.

Ace looked to Whitebeard, who was seated in his large chair right next to them, also observing the battle. "Hey, do you mind if we go steal some treasures?" he pointed to the enemy ship.

Whitebeard watched the battle a little longer before answering. "Sure. Just be careful. Yell if you need help."

"Yay!" All three ran to the smaller ship, Ace and Sabo kicking down a couple of pirates along the way.

"Marco," Whitebeard called out.

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on those brats," Whitebeard gestured to the ship where the boys went. "They were bored." He answered Marco's questioning look.

Marco walked over to the side of Moby and looked down. He raised an eyebrow at the obviously dead bodies on the deck below. These pirates may be weak by their standards, but the fact that they made it out to Grand Line meant they're a little stronger than your average pirate. He wondered how the boys took those guys down without any weapons on them. Or if someone actually took the time to go down to that ship and kill them first.

As he stood there and thought, he heard light laughter coming from the ship's small cabin. The three boys ran out to the deck and waved at him, grinning from ear to ear. They each had a bag brimming with treasure. So overfilled that at each movement they made, coins would fall out.

"You need help there-yoi?" Marco asked, as Luffy had trouble dragging his bag.

Luffy looked to his bag and back to Marco and nodded. Marco chuckled before jumping down. He relieved the boy of his burden and followed the trio back to their ship. The three ran to Whitebeard with their loot and he followed, curious as to what they were so excited about. They placed their bags in front of the captain.

"Here you go," Ace said.

Whitebeard laughed at the gesture. "We have a rule on this ship: What you take off the enemy is yours. So these treasures are now yours." He laughed some more.

"But we eat a lot," Ace insisted, not wanting him and his brothers to be an inconvenience to the people who were helping them.

"Thatch and his men will rid that ship of their supplies in a bit. Don't you boys worry about a thing," Whitebeard waved them off with a smile. He wasn't about to tell the boys that his sons and daughters usually donated a small share of their loot for supplies. No. These boys were allowed to keep everything.

"Oh. Okay, then," Sabo said, then turned to Marco. "So how much do we owe you?" the boy grinned.

Marco gave a lazy smirk and opened the bag he carried and took out a small handful of gold coins. "This much should be enough-yoi."

"You sure?" Luffy asked. "We bought lots."

Marco ruffled the boy's hair. "This is plenty. Let's put this in the treasury-yoi. You'll have your own special spot for it, so no one will touch it."

Once the bags of treasure were put in the treasure room, the boys secretly came back and put one of their bags in the section clearly marked for the kitchen.

-*/-*/-*/

It was still dark out when the boys were tossed off their bed and onto the wooden floor in a tangle of limbs. They heard the pounding of footsteps outside their door and a few people yelling out muffled orders.

"Ugh, what happened?" Ace asked as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand, the other holding Luffy close to his chest.

"Sounds like a storm," Sabo grunted from under both of his brothers. "Think you guys can get off me? Please? I can't breath."

Ace yelped, not realizing he was sitting on this brother, and quickly stood up with Luffy in his arms. "Sorry. A storm, huh? I've heard storms in Grand Line are different than what we usually saw at Dawn. I kinda want to see it."

"Me too." Sabo then turned to give his brother a grin. "Wanna go check it out?"

Sabo quietly opened their door, and they poked their heads out to see some dripping wet crew members grumbling and walking back to their sleeping quarters, while a few dry ones ran past to take over their post in protecting the ship from the storm. There was a loud grumbling sound from all around before the ship lurched, causing Sabo to lose his grip on the door handle and the three of them soon were rolling out into the corridor.

"What are you boys doing out here-yoi?" Marco asked from where he stood in front of his own bedroom door, with a Den Den Mushi in his hand.

"We, uh, wanted to see the storm?" Sabo said sheepishly.

"Never seen a Grand Line storm before, then-yoi?" The First Division Commander chuckled at the two older boy's enthusiastic nods. He gave a quick command to someone at the end of the Den Den Mushi before telling the boys to go back to their room. "It's not safe out here. Maybe once you boys are stronger and older you can experience it. For now, just go back to your room and hold on to something. The waves are so erratic that even I have to stay in the cabin. Devil Fruit users and the sea don't get along." He gave them a wink.

The boys noticed Jozu and Blamenco were also out in the hall giving orders through their Den Den Mushi.

"Where's Whitebeard?" Ace asked. Probably in his room like the other fruit users.

Before Marco could answer, the ship tilted, sending everyone stumbling to catch their footing and grabbing anything secure to keep them from sliding to the other end of the hallway. Marco cursed himself for forgetting to grab the children as they quickly slid downward towards the opening at the other end.

"Stop those kids!" he shouted to everyone below him. Seeing the screaming kids frantically trying to grab all the out stretched hands unsuccessfully, Marco let go of his door frame and transformed himself to fly towards the kids, who were now nearing the end of the corridor and heading out to the back deck where no one was posted. All helping hands were manning the front or up securing the sails. Luckily, someone was able to grab Luffy before he made it out. All that was left were the two older boys.

He tucked his wings close to his body and dived. He internally cheered when he was able to grab Ace's shirt in his beak, with Ace holding Sabo's hand in both of his. By this time the ship was back to its horizontal position. Moments later, a wave came crashing towards them, causing Marco to turn back to his human self.

He landed on deck, back first and got the wind knocked out of him. "You boys all right?" Marco asked after getting his breath back.

"Sabo," Ace coughed up some water, then started to look around frantically, while still being clutched by Marco. "Sabo? Where's Sabo?"

"Ace, Ace! Calm down-yoi," Marco said as Kingdew and Fossa came to help them back to the cabins.

"The waves took him," Fossa said. "Bekky jumped in after him, and Namur followed."

"Did you hear that Ace-yoi? Namur went to get them. Sabo will be fine. Calm down-yoi," Marco said as he struggled to keep the boy from escaping his hold to dive in after his brother. Bekky, his right-hand man, was a great swimmer, and with Namur also out there, Marco was sure that they would all come back safely.

The whole ordeal lasted only a few minutes, and the storm only lasted five. Soon the sky was clear and sunny again. Everyone poured out of the cabin to check on the commander and the boy once the storm was done. As soon as Luffy saw his brother, he twisted his way out of the arms that were holding him and ran to jump on his brother's back.

"Luffy?" Ace said, startled out of his chant of Sabo's name. "You okay?"

"Mm!" he buried his face in Ace's neck. "Sabo's okay. Sabo's coming back."

Seeing that Ace had calmed down with Luffy on his back, Marco placed the boys back on the ground and followed them as Ace walked towards the rail where Luffy was pointing. After a few seconds of not seeing anything, Ace became restless and started bouncing on his feet and resumed his chant.

The rest of the crew that weren't manning the ship and getting it back on course were on the back deck waiting for their brothers to come back. They all cheered once they caught sight of Bekky and Sabo riding Namur, coming their way.

"SaboSaboSaboSaboSabo! SABO!" Ace reached his arms out over the rails, wanting to be with his brother as soon as possible.

Marco had to place a hand on the overly excited boy to keep him from falling overboard. He and the others around him smiled at the sight of how happy the boy was, while completely ignoring the way Luffy was kicking excitedly at his sides.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I feel like I forgot something somewhere. I'm always second guessing myself when I post a new chapter.

Critiques welcomed. Please tell me what I need to work on. Is my English bad? Do you see errors? I've gone through each chapter at least five times, and I find something wrong every time. (⊙﹏⊙✿) What do you like about this story? What do you not like? Is it lame? Seeing as I have this story already completed (I just need to type it up, edit, and post), I'm not sure if I can change much, but I can see what I can do.

To my Guest reviewer: This story is just the ASL growing up with Whitebeard Pirates. I'm still thinking if I want to do canon later or not. It'll depend on if there will be enough interest for it with this Luffy?


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/18/18.

 **Chapter 4**

 _By three methods we may learn wisdom:  
First, by reflection, which is the noblest;  
Second, by imitation, which is the easiest;  
and third by experience, which is the bitterest._

 _\- Confucius_

Ace and Sabo were staring at a bookstore window in one of Whitebeard's territories. They were contemplating if they wanted to go in or not when the old man they had just bought cotton candy from a few minutes ago came running towards them.

"Hey, you boys," the man came to a stop in front of them. He had a very annoyed look on his face. Ace looked to Sabo, mentally asking each other if either one of them did something that would warrant running right now. "Where's that other kid you were with earlier?"

"Luffy?" they asked together as they looked down at the empty space in between them. "Luffy?!"

"I thought you were holding his hand?" Sabo asked Ace.

"I thought you were."

"His right hand was sticky."

"So was his left ..." Ace then grabbed his hair and crouched down in panic when Sabo shook his head. "Shit! We lost Luffy. What do we do? Where did we lose him? What do we tell Gramps?!"

"That kid came back to my stall not too long ago and ordered two extra large sized cotton candies. I took my eyes off him for a second, and he left without paying," the man's face went from accusing to worry once he realized that little boy could be wandering the island, lost.

"Two extra large cotton candies?" they both asked in confusion.

"That's right. I thought he was bringing them to you boys. Why don't I help you look for him? I wouldn't want him to get lost on the island or anything."

"Two extra large cotton candies," they repeated, but this time with comprehension.

"It's okay, sir," Sabo told the cotton candy man. "We think we know where our brother is. How much do we owe you for those two cotton candies he took off with?"

"Why don't we find your brother first? I'd feel better knowing he's safe."

The boys shrugged and lead the man down a few alleys, and they soon found themselves deep in the forest at the far edge of the island.

"Are you sure he'd be this far away from town?" the man looked around cautiously, hoping they didn't run into any dangerous animals.

The boys just walked on, unaware of the older man's anxiety. "Pretty sure," they both answered.

"You said he took two, right?" Sabo asked and continued when the man nodded. "Then, I think he's bringing one to someone, and everyone he knows, besides us, is in this forest."

"As far as I know, no one lives in this forest. There aren't many, but there are a few dangerous animals here," the older man warned them.

"Don't worry," Ace grinned at the man. "Luffy can take care of himself. He's really fast. If anything, he can just out run it and get help."

"There they are," Sabo said as they neared voices.

The old man fell on his bottom when they pushed back some large leaves to reveal the Whitebeard Pirates, with their captain's back closest to them.

"Luffy!" both the boys yelled in irritation, unafraid of the pirates before them.

And there the man saw him, the boy that ran away without paying for the cotton candy, the same boy he was worried about being lost and alone on the island. That very same boy was sitting on the captain's shoulder with a sugary mess on his face.

The boy turned his head to look back and down at his brothers and waved before jumping down. Once he was in front of them, they both smacked him on the head. "Why did you leave without telling us?!"

"Cotton candy," the boy whined while waving his partially eaten sweet. "Wanted to share." This time he pointed at Whitebeard, who looked oddly ashamed with his half-eaten sweet.

"Next time tell us, so we don't get worried," Sabo scolded, then added as an afterthought, "And you didn't pay for it."

"N-no, it's okay. You don't have to pay for it," the old man crawled backwards on the ground, which he hadn't managed to get up. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were with Whitebeard."

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"Pay, Luffy, pay," Ace said, not listening to the poor old man. "You have to pay for things." To show him, Ace took out his pouch of coins and turned to the cotton candy seller to ask how much they owed.

The man stuttered out that they didn't have to pay. Whitebeard laughed at this and insisted that they pay. "I'm sorry. My youngest is still learning the simplest of things. Seems your cotton candy has caught his attention. Enough of it that he didn't remember to tell his precious brothers where he was going."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other in surprise and gave a small cheer to themselves. "Luffy left us on his own!"

Luffy walked up to the man on the ground, smiling happily and waved his cotton candy in front of him. "Yummy. I like. I want more."

"Luffy," Sabo groaned with his hand on his face, "you don't need anymore. The first one was enough. With as much as you already had, I'll be surprised if you even sleep tonight." He turned to the older man to apologize. "Sorry about him. It's his first time having cotton candy." He then turned to look at Ace with a look of questioning. "Actually, would this be considered his first act of piracy?"

Ace shrugged and grinned. "His first act of piracy is to steal cotton candy. Why not? Sounds like a Luffy-thing to do."

The older man barked out a laugh as he sat up with his legs crossed and slapped his thigh. He loved kids. They were the reason he sold cotton candy for a living, and they were the kids of Whitebeard, who had saved their island from terrorizing pirates many years back. How could he forget that? Whitebeard was different from most pirates. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he knew that Whitebeard wouldn't let just any kids on his ship. These three must have their own story of hardship. "How about this? To commemorate the boy's first act of piracy, he can keep his 'loot,' just pay the next time you stop by."

The whole crew roared in a cheer and celebrated. As if they needed a reason to party, every other island stop seemed to be a reason to party.

Luffy wasn't sure what was going on, but when Sabo told him to thank the old man, he gave him a nice, sugary, sticky hug. The cotton candy man left the pirate crew, laughing and with cotton candy stuck in his hair. Marco went with him to ensure the man got out of the forest safely.

-*/-*/-*/

"Marco," the trio sang from the deck one day.

It had already been more than half a year since they'd moved on the ship. The rest of the crew had mostly gotten used to the random noises and laughter that came out of nowhere and the kids' random appearances and disappearances.

"Over here," he waved them over to where he stood with Whitebeard on the upper deck.

They ran over to them with excitement on their faces. "We're done," Sabo said. "Wanna see? Sorry, old man, but you're too big to fit."

"No worry. As long as the ship doesn't sink, it's fine," Whitebeard laughed and waved them off.

The boys dragged Marco to their bedroom. "This is the only one that you can use. The rest, only we can use," Sabo explained as Ace pushed their desk away from the wall. Luffy pressed down on a spot on the floorboard where a large section opened upward, and Luffy jumped down.

As the trio jumped down, Marco looked around the hole and decided to use the ladder that was there and closed the door on his way down.

"Impressive-yoi," he said as he looked around in wonder. He knew their ship was huge, but wow. Without all the cargo laying around, the cargo hold looked enormous. He took notice of the various ladders and was glad they hadn't removed the support beams, though with Blamenco helping them, he shouldn't worry too much about the structure. The head shipwright would have made sure Moby wouldn't sink. There were even additional supports where they thought it was needed. And how did they manage to get those bookshelves down here? He also noticed the rearrangements of the regular lighting fixtures and a few new ones to brighten the place.

"What did you do with all the cargo-yoi?"

"It's all on that side of the wall," Ace pointed to the back of the ship. "You guys can still get to it from the back hatch, but you can't come in here from there. We can though."

Marco then looked up as he noticed he could hear everything that was happening above. "You installed listening devices-yoi?"

"Kind of," Ace beamed. "Those things are expensive. So we did something better."

"We made our own," Sabo said, proud of himself. "That way we know if we're called for."

"We didn't put them under any of your bedrooms, just so you know. Invasion of privacy and all," Ace supplied.

Marco looked up again and saw the small cone-like things scattered around the ceiling, working like a megaphone. "Nice. Put one under mine. It'd be more convenient-yoi," he commented. "And what's behind that wall-yoi?" the blond commander tilted his head towards the wall that had a normal door at the front of the ship.

"Nothing yet," Sabo scratched the back of his head with a look of confusion. "Blamenco said he wanted to do something there. He didn't say what."

"More doors-yoi?" his head gestured to the various latches on the ceiling.

"Yup!" said Luffy, who then started pulling Marco towards one of the many ladders and across a beam to a random hatch-like door. "Watch this." The boy opened the door just enough for his eyes to peek through. Marco did the same and saw they were now below the galley.

Then Luffy raised a pistol through the peep hole and aimed at one of his division member. Marco was now alarmed and was about to stop the boy, but it was too late. He quickly turned his head to look at the person who was shot at, only to see the man had a blue splotch on his face. The target looked around frantically to see what had happened with a hand on his cheek, smearing the paint.

Luffy closed the door and laughed.

"That's dangerous!" Marco smacked the boy on the head, careful to not dislodge the boy from their precarious perch. "What the hell was that-yoi?"

Luffy rubbed his head and pouted, unsure what he did wrong. "Sabo made it. It shoots colors."

Marco confiscated the weapon from the boy and hopped down to inspect it. "You made this-yoi?" he looked to Sabo.

"Yup! Thought it'd be funny," Sabo said proudly, though a little worried that the man would be mad at them. "I even found out how to stop the recoil and make it quiet."

"Impressive," he found himself saying again. "Where did you learn to do this-yoi?"

Sabo pointed to one of the bookcases that had a few books on it. "Ace mentioned something about wanting to prank some people and thought paint would be funny. I was reading about the workings of pistols at the time. So I thought I'd give it a try. There were a few failures, but I finally made one that works. Ace tells me his ideas, and I make them. That's how we used to do things, well, before the whole kidnapping thing."

"I'm not too good at putting things together," Ace scratched the side of his head, looking away from the man, "and Luffy just isn't good at thinking. All he did was help a bit and run around like the idiot he is."

Marco gave them a proud look. "You three have amazing teamwork-yoi. But still," he looked around again, "why a secret hideout?"

"To have somewhere to hide when someone gets too pissed at us for some reason. Trust me, there will be angry pirates in the future," Ace grinned. "And not to mention Joker is still out there," he growled in a low voice, his fist shaking in anger and fear. He was angry at himself for not being strong enough to protect his brothers. He knew he wasn't strong enough to take that man down as he was right now. He also feared what the Warlord would do to them if they were ever found.

"It's a precaution. At least we can hide ourselves if we have to," Sabo said sadly, looking to Luffy, who was running around the place, attempting to show Marco everything.

"And this Marco's room," Luffy pointed to one of the doors overhead.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "You have a door to my room-yoi? Why?" And how did he not know when they did that?

"Just because?" Ace shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, there are doors to every room in the ship."

"And what happened to invasion of privacy-yoi?"

"It's not like we'll be listening in on private conversations or anything," Ace said. "And we'll know if someone is in there, and we won't go in."

The commander could only sigh at that. Then Marco walked over to a bag full of unused things and frowned in confusion at what he saw. "What are these for-yoi?" he asked warily.

Ace and Sabo gave him an evil grin. "You'll see."

"You have way too much free time. Maybe I should add more chores to your schedules-yoi," Marco shook his head in exasperation.

-*/-*/-*/

Early the next morning, the crew members who were still asleep, woke up to a shrill scream. Everyone ran to where the commotion was, weapons drawn, all expecting be to under attack. But what they found instead was a man covered in blue paint and glitter in the doorway to the galley, where a few of the already awake men were eating breakfast.

The man covered in glitter started cursing up a storm and demanded to know who did it, as everyone else laughed at his expense. The man looked around, and his eyes landed on the only three who weren't laughing but shoving their faces full of food.

Feeling eyes on them, the three boys looked up and laughed the hardest, spraying pieces of food all over the table. The man took a step, and the boys hurried to get up and run out of the room, prompting the man to run after them to the open deck. They were gone, nowhere in sight, but he could still hear them laughing from somewhere.

Marco smiled to himself as he walked back to his room to finish up some work. Now he knew what those things were for. "I wouldn't try that on any of the commanders-yoi," he said to his empty room, knowing the boys could hear him.

The trap door in his room opened up, and the heads of the three boys popped up. They were all grinning. "Okay," they sang.

"Just trying to liven things up," Ace added before they dropped back down.

By the afternoon, there were a few more casualties from various parts of the ship. Whitebeard hadn't ever seen his family laugh or yell so much in one day before. It was a nice sight, even if some of his sons looked ready to kill their own siblings. Everyone was more lively, even the targeted ones. A few even laughed at themselves.

Whitebeard looked to the deck when he heard the two older boys yell for Luffy. That's right. Today was bath day. He was pleasantly surprised that the boys enjoyed being clean and took regular baths without being told. Twice a week at that. He watched in amusement as the youngest ran out laughing, once again without his clothes and still dripping wet. At least it looked like all the soap had been washed off this time.

The first bath took everyone by surprise. There were squeals, screams, and yells coming from the bath area. It was concerning enough that Marco had to check up on them. As soon as the door was opened, Luffy had shot out of the room, screaming as if his life was in danger. It was too bad that he still had soap bubbles all over him and slipped on deck. Luckily, someone was there to stop the boy from running again and marched him back to Marco, who had been too shocked at the state of the bathroom to do anything.

Marco had told him about how the bathroom looked like a hurricane had gone through it.

The captain smiled at the memory and looked back down to where Sabo was yelling for Luffy to stop, while half carrying and half dragging a large towel, and Ace had some clothes in hand. They were both chasing their wet, naked brother. Whitebeard chuckled when Sabo tripped over the towel, and Ace ran past him.

The crew members out on deck laughed at the usual routine. One even called out to the boy, "Hey, kid. You forgot your clothes."

Luffy skidded to a stop and looked down at himself, and his eyes widened in realization. "Ace, you forgot my clothes," he turned to declare to his brother just as Ace tackled him to the floor.

"Dammit, Luffy. Every single time! How do you even forget to dry yourself and put on clothes?"

Sabo finally caught up with them and towel dried Luffy so Ace could dress him. "Geez, Luffy," Sabo said with a crooked smile, "you get excited when you pick out your clothes and then forget to put them on. If you catch a cold, Kobato's going to yell at us again." They were always getting a lecture from their doctor every time they come back from an island all scratched up and bruised.

The two older boys found it funny that Luffy liked to randomly pick between boys' clothes and girls' dresses. Today he went with boys clothing, a simple t-shirt and jeans.

"There you are!" the first man to be pranked yelled as he charged at them. He was finally cleaned up, but the glitter seemed to want to stay in his hair.

The three boys looked up in surprise before Ace and Sabo grabbed Luffy and ran in a seemingly random direction on the ship. Sabo stomped on a spot on the deck, and a door opened up, allowing the boys to jump down. All the men on deck stared at the spot in shock, then looked up to Whitebeard, who laughed loudly.

"Those boys sure do know how to liven up a place," he declared as he walked away.

"I just want to know how to get all this shiny stuff off me," the man practically whined.

Really, after a few days, almost everyone on board had given up chasing the boys and just laughed it all off and generally enjoyed themselves.

-*/-*/-*/

"Hey, Sabo," Marco called in his room one morning.

"Morning, Marco," Luffy greeted as he climbed through the floor with his brothers right behind him. The three were always together. If you called one, you get three. The whole cotton candy incident was the first and only time they weren't seen together.

"You need something, Marco?" Sabo asked as the three of them took a seat on Marco's bed.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could make a few more of those paint pistols-yoi," Marco said as he took a seat at his desk.

"Sure. But what for?"

"I was thinking we should add some time for training. We're getting close to New World, and I want to make sure you'll be able to take care of yourselves-yoi. New World is a whole different level than here in Paradise. I would have started the training earlier-yoi, but I didn't want to overwhelm you since you were getting used to living here."

"But why the paint pistols?" Ace questioned.

"A test to see how good you are with different types of weapons. Oh, yeah-yoi. No more study lessons. We're pirates. There's only so much we can teach Luffy-yoi. The important thing is that Luffy can read now. Kind of. Whatever." Marco scowled inwardly. Teaching Luffy had to be the most strenuous thing he's ever done. The kid had the attention span of a rock. He'd rather train a monkey to do tricks, than to teach Luffy anything. He'll just leave that to the two older brats.

"Me and Ace used to use pipes when we hunted with Dadan, so we're pretty good with something like that. But we can use just about anything, kind of. Luffy …," Sabo trailed off as he tilted his head in thought. "Well, Luffy, is good with anything you give him."

"Nice way of putting it," Ace grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean-yoi?"

"What else could it mean?" Ace crossed his arms with a serious face. "Luffy is good with anything you give him. He's just no good with hand-to-hand. He can imitate moves, but there's no real impact. He's got no muscles."

"I know. I've watched you guys spar-yoi," Marco knew what it meant, but the way the boys said it, he was sure there was more to it than what was said. He'll just have to wait and find out eventually.

"If you really want to gauge how good we are, you could always dump us off on an enemy pirate ship," Sabo suggested with a sly grin. "We're better when we fight together."

"We've taken down a ship of twenty men before. I don't know if we've been in New World yet or not though. We never knew where we were," Ace said.

"Not going to happen-yoi. We may be pirates, but most of us here don't like seeing brats like you in a fight. Pops just wants to make sure you boys can at least defend yourselves is all-yoi. Pops was actually thinking about staying in this half of Grand Line a little longer, but Garp said the Marines are getting antsy with us being here for too long."

-*/-*/-*/

"Marco," Luffy popped his head up through the trap door in Thatch's room a week later.

Thatch jumped and fell off his chair as he grabbed his heart in fright. And that girlish shriek didn't happen.

Marco didn't bother looking at the boy as he continued to write something down on Thatch's desk. "Luffy," he greeted, having gotten used the boys' random entrance.

"Sabo's done," Luffy announced.

"Okay," Marco replied back distractedly.

"Does he always do that?" Thatch asked after the kid left. He got off the floor and set his chair back where it should be and sat back down.

"They all do-yoi," came the distracted answer. "Now, about this…." Marco brought Thatch back to what they were working on.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I hope I was able to answer all your questions. Sorry if I forgot to reply to a review. I do try to reply to all the questions. How was this chapter?

Out of curiosity, has any of you guys read my Detective Conan fics? Just wondering how many of you there were. :P


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/18/18.

 **Chapter 5**

 _Nothing is impossible,  
the word itself says 'I'm Possible'!_

 _\- Audrey Hepburn_

"Hey, brats. Come here and bring those things I asked for-yoi," Marco called out from the deck one morning.

"You think they can hear you?" Vista asked. "Where are they anyway?"

"We can hear just fine," came a muffled reply before a door opened up from the deck floor.

All of the commanders had come out of curiosity when they heard Marco ask Izou to help the boys with something. Now they were watching in surprise at the hole opening up in the floor and the three boys climbing out of it.

"So that's how you've been popping up everywhere," Haruta said in amusement, wondering how he hadn't noticed them coming and going through the hidden door before.

"Got one for every room," Sabo said proudly as he handed three pistols to Marco.

Haruta crouched down to where the hole had been. He knocked on the floor a few times, trying to figure out how it worked.

"You'll never open that door," Ace said with a smug expression as Luffy giggled by his side.

Haruta turned to innocent, naive little Luffy in hopes for an answer. "Do you know how this thing works?"

"It's a mystery door," the boy cheered.

Blamenco had to keep himself from laughing at his brothers' curiosity. The boys wanted to keep the doors a surprise, so he wasn't going to tell anyone how they worked or where they were placed. Not that he could fit in them himself. The one in the kids' room was the only one big enough for him to fit into anyway.

"These aren't the same as the one you showed me before-yoi," Marco's voice distracted the 12th Division Commander from asking more questions about the doors.

"You said we'd be training, so I left it mostly intact. It still fires off paint, though," as if to prove his point, Sabo took one gun and fired a shot at the cabin's wall. "I think they have about a hundred shots each."

"You left the recoil-yoi?" Marco raised an eyebrow at how the boy's arm reeled back a little.

"You said you wanted to know how good we are with them, so I left it mostly intact. And mostly for Luffy," Sabo explained.

"Why? You know he's not strong enough to handle that sort of recoil-yoi." Marco knew, with the boy's lack of muscle strength, Luffy wouldn't be able to stand after shooting a round with this type of pistol. He should have told the boy to use a more light-weighted pistol.

"Luffy can handle it," Ace said as he dragged Luffy with him to where their other brother was.

"All right, then. How are your aims with these-yoi?" Marco asked as he led them down the plank and onto an island they'd docked at, with all the Commanders following.

"Good enough? We get the job done," Sabo answered with a shrug.

Marco sighed. "Not the answer I wanted-yoi." He pointed to a tree. "Aim for that black spot."

Getting the idea, Ace and Sabo raised their weapon and took aim, with Luffy looking at them before mimicking them. While the two older boys slightly flinched after firing their shots, Luffy went rolling backwards, head over heels. Blue and red paint dotted the tree trunk, both inches away from their intended target, and a yellow spot a few feet above.

Sabo quickly ran over to Luffy and helped him back to his feet. "Luffy, you were supposed to aim for the black spot. The really big one right there," he bent his head next to his brother's so they would be eye level and pointed at the target.

"Oh," the boy's eye widens. "Opps. Wrong black spot." He took his stance again from where he stood, which was a few feet further away.

Marco placed a hand over his eyes and shook his head. He looked back up after the next shot went off and saw Luffy rolling back again. Why did that brat leave the recoil for the poor boy? He turned his head to the tree to see yellow right in the center of the spot he chosen as their target.

"Marco," Kingdew called out after inspecting the tree. "The kid's first shot was actually spot on. He nailed a fly." The large man pointed to the first yellow that Luffy had shot.

Marco wasn't the only one shocked by the extreme accuracy the boy had. Everyone, with the exception of the two older brothers, were speechless.

Thatch laughed. "You did say 'black spot on the tree.'"

Marco turned to the boys. "I still don't see why you left those guns as they were if Luffy's just going to roll off after each shot. That's just creating an opening for enemies to take advantage of-yoi."

Sabo scratched his head as he hummed, thinking of a good way to explain the reason. "Not quite sure how to explain it. Let's just say that Luffy uses anything and everything to his advantage. We've rarely had to worry about it before."

"Right, fine-yoi," Marco sighed once more and ran a hand through his hair. No point in trying to understand the kids. He'd just have to wait until the end to point the problems out to them. "I'm actually no good with guns, so I'm going to have you go at it with Izo-yoi." He waved the cross-dresser over. "Who's going first?"

"I am," Ace said as he walked and stopped a few feet in front of Izo.

Marco took a gun from one of the other boys and gave it to Izo. "Stop when you're both out of ammo, or when you hit something vital. 'Out of ammo' is six shots. Your field is within a 15-foot radius, and I will know if you go out of bounds." The match started as soon as Marco reached Sabo and Luffy's side.

The first thing Ace did was to jump high into the trees, using the foliage as coverage. He then jumped to another branch and another to distract the commander. Once he got behind the man, Ace fired a shot.

Izo was told not to use Haki during their little training session but was still able to dodge the red paint fired. It was a poor aim that was going towards his feet. Nonetheless, not wanting the boy to think it'd be easy, he took a step to the left and turned around to fire where the shot came from.

"Ack!" Ace fell from the tree, crashing into the bush below. "That's not fair," he moaned as he detangled himself from the bush. There was bright red mark in the middle of his forehead.

"That would have worked on an average person," Izo stated, "if you can control your aim. Maybe we should have asked a non commander to do this instead."

"Well, that didn't last long," Sabo sighed in dread, when Ace tagged him in.

The match with Sabo started and ended similar to Ace's.

"I think he's cheating," Sabo grumbled as he dusted his pants.

"I wasn't cheating," Izo defended himself. "You both have lousy aim. Neither one of you would have been able to hit me anywhere important, even if I didn't move."

"It's okay, Sabo," Ace gave his brother a confident grin. "It's Luffy's turn. Time for revenge."

"Luffy, you better win this round for us," Sabo gave the smaller boy an encouraging smile.

"Okay~," Luffy cheered as he bounced over to stand in front of Izo.

"Izo," the man turned his attention to Marco, "you can use Haki with this kid-yoi."

"You sure about that? He's just a tiny shrimp. I don't want to be called a cheater again, especially when I didn't cheat to begin with."

"Trust me," Marco gave the other two boys' creepy grin a thoughtful look. "And it's not cheating if he's using it too. And take this," he tossed the man the other paint pistol he took from Sabo. "To liven things up-yoi," he smirked at Izo's disbelief.

"My turn! My turn!" Luffy sang as he bounced around in front of Izo in excitement, carelessly waving his pistol in the air over his head.

"Sure, sure," Izo smiled fondly at the boy. Seeing the boy wasn't stopping his strange dance of joy, Izo took aim at the oblivious boy. It'd be the boy's own fault for not paying attention. Instead of landing the hit like he'd expected, the red paint landed a few feet behind the still dancing boy instead.

It had to be a coincidence. Izo shot off both pistols in his hand in succession. He was sure at least one would hit since the boy had his back to him. Instead the red and blue paint ended up flying past the boy's head as he continued to dance.

Izo glared at the two snickering boys who were with the rest of the commanders. He turned his eyes back to the boy in front of him. "Luffy, you do know that our match has already started, don't you?" he asked patiently.

"Oh, it is?" Luffy tilted his head, causing the boys at the sideline to laugh harder. "Okay." It was then that the cheerful boy's face went from all carefree smiles to something more alarming. Izo didn't know how to describe it, except that it was like all trace of emotions left the boy.

Instead of jumping to the trees like his brothers did, Luffy charged straight at Izo and tripped over his own feet. The man took advantage of that and fired, wanting to get this done and over with but missed when the boy used his hand to flip himself over and upright and continued to run past him and into the bushes.

Using Haki, Izo tried to locate the boy but nothing showed, other than the others at the sidelines. He held both pistols up and readied them. He dodged a shot that came too close to his face. Then another and another, each one coming too close for comfort from different directions, making it harder for him to pick out where the boy was. Izo grinned in victory when the sixth projectile was sent in his direction.

He vaguely heard Ace and Sabo telling Marco to not end the match yet.

Then, from his left, Luffy came out of the bushes and charged at him once more. Foregoing the pistol still in his hand, the boy launched himself at Izo with a kick aimed at the man's head. Izo quickly, with practiced ease, placed one of his weapons into his sash and grabbed the boy's leg before it made contact.

"You used all six of your shots, brat," Izo said with the boy dangling upside down in front of his face. The kid had the audacity to aim the pistol at his face.

"But you didn't," Luffy grinned with a face that the commander never want to see on the boy ever again. Luffy pointed to where Izo had placed his second gun earlier. It was no longer there. Then he saw another gun, abandoned right in front of his feet.

"Shit!" Izo tossed the boy, just as red brushed his cheek.

Luffy rolled to a stance and fired once more, only to topple back and roll away as Izo sidestepped the shot. The man took aim at the rolling boy but was stopped by Marco.

"Why'd you stop it?" Izo demanded.

"Look at your chest-yoi."

The Sixteenth Division Commander looked down to see a red stain right over his heart. "How –"

By now the two older boys were on the floor clutching their stomach from laughing so hard.

Izo looked at Marco for an explanation. "The kid took another shot in mid-recoil-roll-yoi."

The crossdresser looked at Luffy, who was still trying to shake off the dizziness from the last roll.

"You've got to be kidding," Izo deadpanned. He had heard the last shot but thought it was a wild shot, not a well-aimed one.

"No," Ace said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "That's why we kept the recoil."

"He uses anything and everything to his advantage," Sabo repeated himself, panting from the laugh. "If anyone thinks to shoot him while he's rolling away, it'd be too late."

"So, you're saying it's planned-yoi?" Marco asked in interest. He didn't think the brat could even form a plan, much less, aim from that strange position.

"No," Ace finally caught his breath back, "Luffy doesn't know how to think like that. Luffy's just unpredictable."

Izo thought back on every shot the boy fired and realized that each one of them would have been dead on if Izo wasn't as skilled as he was. "That was certainly entertaining. You're good with that, brat," he complimented the boy. "Maybe you should start carrying one around for protection. New World is a lot more dangerous than Paradise. Something not as heavy-weighted. I may have something in my room." He mumbled the last half to himself.

"Wait, then how did he not roll away while he was hiding in the bushes?" Kingdew asked.

"The tree," Luffy answered. He jumped up to a branch and braced his back to the trunk to show them what he did.

"All right. You said you can use just about anything, right-yoi?" Marco asked as he held out a sword to hand over to them.

Sabo and Ace looked at each other before Sabo turned back to answer. "We can, but we're actually not all that good with swords. We'd just swing that thing around and hope to hit something."

"I see. That might be too dangerous then," he placed the sword down and picked up a bo staff. "You said you can use this, right-yoi?"

The two older boys' eyes lit up. "That, we can use," Ace said as he took the offered staff and swung it around, testing it. "A little lighter than what we're used to, but we can use this."

"Right, I forgot-yoi. You mentioned hunting with pipes before." Ace and Sabo nodded. "Okay, then. This time you'll spar with me-yoi." Marco walked out to take Izo's place with Ace following.

"Aren't you going to use one too?" Ace asked.

"No. I don't usually fight with weapons," Marco answered. "Don't worry about holding back-yoi. Just come at me like you would an enemy."

"Oh. Well, okay then," Ace smirked as he made the first move. He swung his staff up and then down towards Marco's head, but the man was much faster and easily dodged.

Marco was impressed at how well Ace was able to handle the bo staff. The boy was even able to withstand his kicks that were blocked with the staff. He knew the kid was strong, now he knew how strong. He continued attacking and giving the boy room to attack back.

At one point, he kicked the staff out of the boy's hand, only for the Ace to completely ignore the weapon and attacked him with his bare fist. Marco had thought Ace would retrieve the staff. The spar continued on with Marco kicking, and Ace throwing whatever he could at the man, before Marco kicked Ace hard enough to send him towards his brothers.

"That's it," Marco ended the match. "Not bad-yoi," he smirked at the boy. "We'll have to work on your speed though. Next-yoi."

Sabo left Ace, who was rubbing his sore spot, with Luffy and grabbed the forgotten staff on the ground.

Marco found that the two older boys had similar a fighting style. Basically, anything goes. They fight dirty if they have to, aiming for places normal people wouldn't dare to think to hit. He dodged a thrust to his midsection before kicking the staff, but Sabo was more persistent in holding onto his weapon. Marco didn't get the chance to unarm Sabo and ended the match in the same manner he did his brother, kicking him towards where his brothers were.

Marco put down his leg and frowned. "Where'd the other two brats go?"

"Luffy got hungry," Vista answered. "Looked like Ace fell asleep or something, so the brat dragged him over and complained about being hungry and wanting food. Thatch took them back to the ship for some snacks."

"I'm surprised Ace didn't wake up after being manhandled like that," Haruta winced. "I mean, the shrimp was literally dragging him by the arm. We told him to leave his brother to sleep here, but he insisted Ace wanted food too."

Sabo looked around, thinking his two brothers would still be around. "Really? I'm more surprised that Luffy left me. I'm not surprised he took Ace with him. This is the second time he's left without the both of us." Sabo smiled at that. "Maybe he'll finally learn to be on his own. I mean, we've never left Luffy alone before. Unless he was too injured and unconscious, but we'd always be by his side before he woke up. Even better," he looked at them with a bigger smile, "he said what he wanted to someone that wasn't us."

Marco ruffled the boy's hair. "It only took him eight months to do that-yoi." They all headed back to the ship and towards the galley. "And he can read and write now. Little by little, he's growing-yoi. You two are doing great."

Sabo felt himself blush. Never in his life did he ever think he would feel this proud about raising a child at his age, not to mention, he and Ace were children themselves. It wasn't easy, but he knew Ace would agree with him that Luffy made them proud.

The second they walked into the galley, Luffy ran over to Sabo with a slab of meat in hand and gave him a greasy hug. Sabo patted him on the head and asked if Ace was awake yet.

"I'm awake," Ace grumbled from his spot at a table in front of Thatch. There was a huge pile of food before him, but he had his head on the table.

Sabo sat down next to him and started eating with Luffy. "You fall asleep again?"

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I woke up to Luffy trying to feed me. Not sure how he did it, but I'm actually full."

"Aww. Don't say it like that. Your little brother thought it'd be nice to feed you before he fed himself," Thatch grinned.

The rest of the group took a seat with the boys and Thatch. The commanders had nothing planned for the day, so they all decided to take the day to spend with their youngest shipmates and get to know them better.

"Again?" Marco asked.

"Luffy calls them 'Nap Attacks,'" Ace mumbled. "That's the third time I just fell asleep out of nowhere."

"Oh? This is the first I'm hearing about this-yoi," Marco raised an eyebrow at him.

Ace turned his head away with a blush. "Didn't think it was important."

"Ace," Sabo smiled brightly. Ace's head turned his way. "You do realize that Luffy dragged you here without me, right?"

"Yeah," his brother said fondly, before scowling. "That explains why I'm so sore. So how did you do? Sorry I missed it."

"I didn't drop my staff," Sabo said proudly.

"You two have the same fighting style," Marco said. "I'm guessing you learned together?"

"Yeah," Sabo answered. "We fought and hunted together before…well, yeah…"

"And Luffy? How is he with a staff?" Haruta asked.

"Don't know. Never had a chance to give him one to use," Ace shrugged. "But probably wouldn't hurt anyone since he has no muscles. Might leave some bruises, though."

Marco agreed. They'll have to work on that. Whitebeard pirates are known as the strongest, but they were pirates, nonetheless. The kids will need to learn to take care of themselves eventually.

"After you finish eating, I want to do a few tests on this 'Nap Attack' of yours, Ace," Izo said. "It may not be anything serious, but it doesn't hurt to know what's going on with your body."

-*/-*/-*/

"Brats," Whitebeard drawled, as he closed the door to his room and walked over to take a seat on his bed. He chuckled in amusement as Luffy popped his head up from the floor. He'd watched them when they made the door and even gave them permission to add the listening tube to his room. They told him where it was so he could plug it up if he wanted to talk about something he didn't want them to listen in on.

"Hi, old man," the boy greeted and crawled out of the hole to let his brothers through.

"You need something?" Sabo asked. This wouldn't be the first time Whitebeard called them to do some errands for him.

"How is your training going?" Whitebeard gestured for them to sit with him on his bed.

Luffy quickly ran over and sat in his usual place on Whitebeard's knee.

"Hard to say," Ace said. "Marco's way stronger than we are, and we have nothing to compare ourselves to."

"Marco turns pretty when he let us hit him," Luffy threw his arms out in a cheer as he talked about Marco's Devil Fruit ability.

"I hear you wouldn't let Luffy learn how to use any weapons?"

"Yeah," Sabo answered. "We figured Luffy needs to work on his strength. Truthfully, we don't like seeing him use weapons. It just reminds us of … of before. And he doesn't need to learn how to use them. He already knows how to use them."

Whitebeard nodded. He understood what the boy meant. Even if he's never really seen them fight, he's sure that it's a sight they don't want to see again. Seeing a young boy they've practically raised themselves doing things they don't like, would bring bad memories.

"I hear you have narcolepsy, Ace?"

"Nap Attack? Yeah. No idea where they came from. Never had them before," Ace shrugged it off as unimportant. It doesn't sound like this narcawhatsit is life threatening.

"Do you like it here?"

"Yes," Ace gave the big man a small smile. "The people are nice. No one's asked us anything we don't want to answer."

Sabo nodded. "Ace and I have always dreamed of being a pirate. You've given us that and freedom. You don't know how much this means to us."

"You wanted to be pirates? At such a young age?"

"Pirates are free!" Luffy cheered with his arms up in the air.

"Is that so?" Whitebeard grinned.

"We told Luffy stories about pirates. Even before we got stuck in that place, all we ever wanted was freedom," Ace said, looking to the floor.

"Ace had to hide so the government wouldn't find him, and I had to hide from my parents. At least here, there are people that know we exist," Sabo said. "We're tired of running and hiding."

"Then you might not like what I'm about to say," Whitebeard frowned.

"Why?" both of the older boys asked, dreading what Whitebeard was going to tell them.

"We're nearing Sabaody Archipelago. I need you three to stay on the ship and out of sight. Basically, stay under the ship until we leave there. That place may seem like a grand place, but it has its dark side. Sabaody is close to Mariejois, where World Nobles live."

"Slavery," Sabo growled. "I've heard of the place from my parents."

Whitebeard nodded. "As such, I want you to stay away from there and out of trouble."

"We're fine with that," Ace crossed his arms. "It's better than going back. I like my freedom, thank you very much."

"Also, everyone will have to be off the ship. So it'll just be you three. There will be someone I trust that will be coming on board to coat the ship. Even then, I want you three to stay hidden."

"What do you mean 'coat the ship?'" Sabo asked.

"In order to cross Red Line into New World, ships need to be coated in order to travel underwater." Whitebeard looked amused as the boys' eyes widened.

"Travel underwater? You can travel underwater?" Ace said in wonder.

"Yes. Come on deck once we depart to experience it. It truly is something else."

The boys cheered at seeing something new. It was like another adventure. They couldn't wait.

"Also," the stern voice caused the boys to be quiet, "I've let you guys wander off on your own at each island before, but after we get to New World, you won't be able to do that as often. A commander will be with you everywhere you go. New World is nothing like Paradise. There are more dangers out there. The pirates and marines are much stronger, and the islands are more dangerous."

The boys nodded in understanding. They may be losing some of their freedom, but Whitebeard was only looking out for their well-being. At least they're no longer slaves ordered around to do mindless killings. They were still free.

"Is it possible for you to buy something for us then?" Sabo asked. "We were planning to do some shopping."

"What is it you need?"

"A hammock big enough for the three of us and some blankets. We want to sleep in our hideout, but it gets too cold at night."

"All right. I'll have Marco get those for you."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** ˭̡̞(◞⁎˃ᆺ˂)◞*✰


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/18/18.

 **Chapter 6**

 _It always comes back to one thing:  
You should be doing what makes you happy._

 _\- Charles Orlando_

"They all gone," Luffy whispered sadly. This was the quietest the ship had ever been. Even when they docked at an island, there would still be people on board doing things here and there. Never before had it been this quiet on Moby Dick. It was unnerving.

"It's okay," Ace patted Luffy's head. "The old man said they'd be back by dinner."

"At least Thatch left us lunch," Sabo commented as he rubbed his arm uncomfortably.

"I'm bored," Luffy whined. "Nobody to play with." More like no one to yell at them for pulling a prank.

"Let's take a nap then," Ace suggested. Anything else they did would just be too noisy in the quiet ship and alert anyone nearby that the ship wasn't as empty as it should be.

Just as they were making themselves comfortable on the floor of their hideout with a bunch of blankets Marco had given them, they heard someone climb onto the ship. Curious, they climbed back up the ladder and walked along a beam right under the deck. They could hear the person walking until he was right over them.

"Strange," they heard the man say. "Thought Whitebeard said everyone was off the ship."

Ace and Sabo gave each other a wide-eyed look, realizing that the man somehow knew they were still on board. Probably that Haki thing Marco said Luffy could do. "Seems you've gotten yourself some guardian angels, Moby," the man laughed and continued his walk.

Sabo mimed to Ace his thought of how the man was crazy for talking to the ship as if it were alive. The boys followed, staying as quiet as they could.

The man walked about the deck and into the cabins, opening and closing doors as if checking each room. The boys winced at a loud noise and the painful yelp. Ace and Sabo looked at each other with wide eyes. They had forgotten about that trap. All the others were taken down before everyone left, per Marco's instructions.

Ace opened up the trap door in the sleeping quarter hallway and peeked through. He saw an old man hanging uncomfortably in their net trap right in front of the Fourth Division's sleeping quarter.

"Ah, you there," the man looked right at Ace, "would you be so kind as to lend me a hand, please?"

Ace continued to look at the man for a few more moments before hesitantly climbing out and walking over. Again, he looked at the man, trying to decide if he really should help him out or not. "You're the ship coater, right?"

The man laughed. "That's right. The name's Rayleigh." Figuring the man wouldn't harm them since Whitebeard said he trusted him, Ace pulled a rope and released the man, who flipped and landed on his own two feet. "You must be one of Moby's guardian angels," Rayleigh said as he dusted his pants.

"Ace," he answered, remembering Sabo lecturing him about his manners, as he eyed Rayleigh warily.

The man nodded before tilting his head in the direction of where Sabo and Luffy were peeping through the door Ace had used. "And the other two?"

Ace glared at his two brothers for showing themselves, trying to decide if he should answer or not, but Luffy opened the door all the way and climbed out and ran over to hug Ace. "'m Luffy. That's my brother, Sabo." He pointed to the blond walking over to them.

Sabo bowed in front of the man. "Sorry about that. We forgot to take it down and didn't think you'd be walking around the ship." Ace followed suit and pushed Luffy into a bow as well.

Rayleigh waved at them dismissively and laughed. "Don't worry about it. I was just doing an inspection before I start my coating. By the way, what are you boys doing here?"

"The old man said to stay on the ship," Ace said, holding onto Luffy's hand.

"I see. I meant, why are you on this ship with Whitebeard?"

The boys gave the man a cautious look before running back to the trap door. "None of your business," Ace yelled before slamming the door shut.

Rayleigh scratched his head before he realized something. "There aren't any more of those traps, are there?" He called out to them. It's not like he couldn't get out of them easily, he just wanted to see who was still on the ship when he was told everyone had left.

"NO!" came Ace and Sabo's muffled shout back from under him.

The three kids followed the man from within their secret hideout, curious about the strange old man who talked to himself.

-*/

Rayleigh was under the sea, coating the bottom of the ship, when Luffy whispered that more people were coming towards the ship. They froze where they were in the back of the ship as they heard quiet footsteps on the deck, hoping the newcomers were just the ship coater's helpers.

"Are you sure they're on this ship?" they heard one say.

"I'm positive. I overheard some of Whitebeard's men talking about three kids they left on the ship, and they sounded a lot like those three brats that ran from Joker, don't you think?" The boys went pale at the mentioned name.

"Doesn't matter. If it's not them, we can still bring them back. I'm sure Joker wouldn't mind replacements."

"So? How do we get them to come out? I don't think they'd willingly come out to greet us."

"Easy. Destroy everything," one suggested. "We'll fish them out eventually."

"But this is Whitebeard's ship. There's no way we can fight them."

"Don't be stupid. The ship is empty. If there is anyone here, it'd be some wimpy coater." They all laughed in agreement.

The three boys quietly landed on the floor of the ship. "What do we do?" Sabo whispered urgently, and they jumped at the sound of wood cracking, a cold sensation running down Ace and Sabo's back.

"Dammit, the ship!" Ace said as he ran towards the trap door leading to the training room with his brothers following. Ace and Sabo both grabbed a bo staff before running out to the deck. Luffy, used to always being handed his weapon, didn't know what to do and just followed his brothers in grabbing a staff.

"Stop it!" Ace yelled at them. It may not be their ship, but this ship was his and his brothers' safe haven. He wasn't about to let anything happen to it if he could do something about it. Sabo and Luffy were right behind him and saw parts of the upper and lower cabin had a huge chunk taken out.

"Oh? Decided to come out of hiding, did you?" one sneered as another took out a piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it.

"That's them," he showed the paper to the others. "Ace, Sabo, and Luffy."

"We're not going back," Sabo growled, gripping his staff with determination.

All the men laughed at them. "What can a bunch of kids do?" All the men drew their swords and charged at them.

Ace and Sabo jumped over each one, dodging every attack and knocking some down. Luffy rushed right up to one and jumped up to swing his staff at the man but had his staff knocked out of his hands. The man easily grabbed him in midair, but Luffy bit the man's hand, stealing the sword that was dropped in the process.

Armed once more, Luffy attacked with determination. There was no way he wanted to go back to the way it was before Moby Dick. He remembered how hurt his brothers looked every time he woke up after his punishments. There was no way he wanted Ace and Sabo to be hurt again. They were free, and he was going to do everything he could to keep it that way. Now that he's had a taste of freedom, he intended to keep it.

He'd taken down two men when there was a yelp of pain from one of his brothers.

"Hold it right there, runts," one man called out, causing everyone to stop. He held a pistol right at Ace's head. The young brunette was hissing in pain from the bullet that had grazed his right shoulder.

"Dammit," Ace grunted as he held onto his bleeding shoulder.

"Ace!" both Sabo and Luffy yelled in horror.

"No one make a move," the man with the pistol said. "Drop your weapons." He looked at the last remaining man and tilted his head in Luffy's direction once the sword left the boy's hands. "If you do anything, I'm going to blow this kid's head off."

The man grinned evilly as he walked towards Luffy with a stone collar, one that Luffy recognized all too easily. It may be a little bigger than the one he had before, but he knew what it was. They all looked the same regardless of their size.

Luffy took a shaky step back, only to be warned by the man with the gun, and the next thing he knew, the collar was on his neck. It was heavy. He didn't like it. He wanted it off. He'd finally learned what freedom was. He didn't want to go back.

Sabo and Ace looked at Luffy in fear. They could see the life in Luffy's eyes disappear, leaving just two dead black eyes looking at nothing. Luffy had shut down. They'd never seen Luffy in this state before. It was unnerving. "Luffy," they breathed, feeling lost.

Ace cursed himself for not being able to protect his brothers and even causing them to be caught once again. It was all his fault.

The two men who hadn't been taken out yet, laughed. "It's just like the Executive Officers said. You catch one, and you get two free," the man standing next to Ace lowered his gun, laughing. "Let's go." He walked away from the boys, knowing they would follow now that one of them had the bomb collar that was in their control.

Sabo walked next to Ace, supporting him as Ace walked sluggishly from blood loss, with Luffy in front of them.

They all, with the exception of Luffy, turned their heads to the side of the ship when they heard the sound of something splashing.

"Oh? What's going on here?" Rayleigh asked as he casually pulled himself onto the ship. His eyes trailed across the deck, seeing the bodies lying about the deck, two dead and three unconscious. Then he took in the rest of his surroundings and noticed the state the boys were in and Luffy's collar.

"We're just taking back what's ours," the man who put the collar on Luffy stated.

Ace and Sabo both looked down in shame. They were runaway slaves. Slaves are property. The three of them belonged to Doflamingo.

"I'm afraid those kids are Whitebeard's," Rayleigh said with amusement.

"They were ours to begin with. We're just reclaiming what's ours." The man who had the gun on Ace turned to Luffy. "First things first. Kill this old man."

"Luffy," Sabo tried to stop the boy, but his brother just walked past without acknowledging them. The two men grinned as Luffy emotionlessly picked up a sword that was dropped earlier.

"Luffy, was it?" Rayleigh asked as he brought a hand to his chin and hummed in thought, then nodded to himself. "I see. Boy, aren't you a pirate?" Rayleigh said to Luffy. "Pirates are free. They do what they want, be it good or bad. Pirates belong to no one but the sea. They take orders from no one but their captain. Isn't Whitebeard your captain?"

Luffy stopped right in front of Rayleigh, life and understanding slowly coming back to his eyes as the old man continued to talk.

"For as long as I've known Whitebeard, once he takes you in, you are considered part of his family. You are one of his sons. You have many, many older siblings to watch over you. Is this what you want? Do you want to leave your family behind?"

Luffy looked up at the man with tears in his eyes and shook his head. "I wanna stay here," his voice trembled as tears streamed down his face. "I like it here. I wanna stay here with my brothers!"

Rayleigh smiled. "Good. Now, to take care of this thing." Rayleigh touched the collar, causing it to tick.

The small boy flinched and closed his eyes in fear. The next thing Luffy knew, the weight of the collar was off his shoulders, and there was an explosion off to the side, over the ocean. Blinking, Luffy brought his hands over his neck to find the collar gone. Rayleigh looked up at the men as they whispered between themselves.

"I recognize him now. He's Dark King Rayleigh."

"The Pirate King's first mate?"

"What's someone like him doing here?"

"We better tell Joker."

The man with the gun now had Ace and Sabo at gunpoint. "Don't forget we still have your friends here. Hurry up, and get rid of that old man so we can leave," the man demanded, confident that they could still get away. As soon as the Dark King was distracted by the kid, they'd run, with or without the kids. At least they have information on the kids to give to Joker.

Feeling conflicted but not wanting his brothers to be harmed because of him, Luffy raised his sword again, but Rayleigh knocked the weapon from his hands and was no longer near him. Looking around at the sound of shock, he saw the older man now standing in between his brothers and the man threatening them, who was now holding his hand in pain with the pistol lying uselessly on the ground.

That had the remaining intruder shaking. With the new knowledge that he couldn't beat the man before them, he took off running, but Luffy was faster than the out-of-shape man. The boy dashed across the deck, grabbing another sword on his way. The surprise of feeling strong murderous intent coming from such a small body stopped Rayleigh from going after the retreating figure.

"You're not telling pink bastard anything," Luffy said darkly as he killed the man quickly. He stood over the body for a moment before stabbing his sword into the body when he heard Sabo call out Ace's name and ran over to them.

Ace had collapsed to his knees. "Ace?" Luffy skidded to his knees in front of his brothers. "What's wrong, Ace?"

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy," Ace breathed and looked up at his youngest brother with a smile. "You did good, Luffy." Luffy dipped his head as his brother lifted his hand to rub the boy's head. "Looks like you need another bath, though." Luffy looked down and saw the blood spots that splattered on him.

"Let's get you bandaged up first and clean this place before that bath," Rayleigh said as he picked Ace up. "Otherwise, I won't be able to finish my job."

-*/-*/-*/

Whitebeard and Marco could see Moby Dick between the large trees. Once they got close enough, they could tell something had happened, if the pile of bloodied bodies was anything to go by. Marco quickly transformed his arms into fiery wings and flew the rest of the way to the deck. He could hear the pounding of multiple hammers before landing and saw Rayleigh, Sabo, and Luffy working on repairs to the ship, Ace leaning on a cabin wall, asleep, and four unknown men, who were glaring at him, tied up.

"Rayleigh, what happened-yoi?" he asked worriedly, walking towards the three doing repair work.

"Marco!" Luffy dropped his hammer, making another hole that needed to be fixed, and ran up to the man to give him a hug around a leg.

Marco placed a comforting hand on the boy's head. "And didn't we tell you to stay under-yoi?"

"Now, now, Pheonix," Rayleigh smiled, "things happened, and it couldn't be helped."

By this point, Whitebeard was on board. "Is Ace alright?" The large captain had seen the bandages peeking through the sleeping boy's tank top.

"Don't worry, it's just a slight graze. We patched him up. Explanations later," Rayleigh sighed. "First, let's fix this so I can finish your coating first thing in the morning. These boys were kind enough to lend me their hands. Very handy boys you have here. Though, one is better at making holes than the other."

"Sabo," Marco handed the boy a large bag, "Here are the things you asked for-yoi. Do you need help putting it up?"

"Let us go! Once Joker finds out about this, you'll be in trouble!" One of the tied-up men decided to yell at the intimidatingly large captain. Whitebeard and Marco watched with amusement as Ace got up to kick the man hard enough in the head to knock him unconscious.

Sabo's eyes lit up as he took the bag. "Thank you! We may need some help since Ace can't do much with his shoulder like that."

Ace glared at him. "Not like I asked to get shot at," he mumbled as he went back to his wall to rest.

Before long, more crew members came back and were surprised at what they saw. No one asked for too many details about what had happened. They just assumed it was another group of idiots that decided to attack their ship and just helped with the repairs, easily ignoring their new captives. Now that they had enough help to repair the ship, Whitebeard asked Rayleigh to come to their meeting room to explain.

"Luffy, why don't you stay here and help?" Sabo offered. Luffy looked at him questioningly before he nodded slowly, not really wanting to be away from any of his brothers after this incident.

"Don't worry, Luffy," Thatch said as he ruffled the boy's head. "They'll be back out in no time. How about you help me in the kitchen instead? Dinner's gotta be ready in an hour. You think we can do that?"

Luffy cheered as Thatch picked him up and placed him on his shoulders. Helping in the kitchen always means before-dinner snacks. And before-before-dinner snacks.

Marco, Rayleigh, Sabo, Ace, and the four intruders went to the meeting room to talk. The three that were on the ship at the time, explained everything that had happened.

Whitebeard turned his attention to the intruders, leveling them with a glare. "Why does Doflamingo still want the boys? Doesn't he already have enough people to do his dirty work?"

One of the men, the one they assumed to be the leader, grinned evilly. "You mean you don't know?"

Ace and Sabo flinched, knowing part of the reason. It's the reason why they didn't want Luffy here, to learn that he was the reason all this happened.

"That cute little tool you stole from us is Joker's first successful human weapon."

"What do you mean?" Whitebeard growled.

"Easy, he kidnaps a young, impressionable, innocent kid, hypnotizes the kid, and voila! A killing machine that can easily pick up any fighting style. Our very own unsuspecting assassin."

Marco kicked the man in the head hard enough that teeth and blood flew out of his mouth before falling unconscious. The First Division Commander had heard enough to make his blood boil. How could they do that to children?

"I thought I recognized that sword style," Rayleigh said thoughtfully. "I had just assumed he was being taught by Haruta."

Whitebeard turned his glare on one of the other still conscious intruders, "Are there any other children?"

The man trembled in fear and spilled everything he knew, not wanting to be killed. "No. All the others are dead. That kid is the only survivor. Joker's been keeping an eye on him to track his progress. He wants the kid back after many failed attempts after these three ran away. He wants to know why that kid is the only success so he can replicate it."

"So," Sabo's voice trembled at the information, "he wants Luffy back because …" He couldn't continue that line of thought.

"We…," Ace swallowed to wet his dry throat, "we thought that he wanted Luffy back only because he's a fast learner, not because … we didn't know he was a test subject."

Marco placed a hand on each of the boys' shoulders. "Doflamingo probably doesn't realize that Luffy had you guys to watch over him-yoi. All the others died because they didn't have brothers like you to raise them. You did great in raising your little brother into the good person that he is now-yoi. Luffy isn't a mindless killing machine. And because of you, he has a heart-yoi."

The boys blushed and smiled proudly at what they had accomplished.

A warm smile appeared on Whitebeard's face, and it dawned on him why the trio hadn't called him Pops yet. It was because they subconsciously knew he wasn't their Pops. It was someone else that they looked to for guidance. While he did put Marco in charge of the brats, he hadn't thought his First Commander would take over his position. Oh, how his son was growing.

Whitebeard nodded in agreement. "We've seen the boy's progress, and we know what kind of person he is. He's grown so much since we picked you boys up. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: We are all children of the sea. Your past doesn't matter here. You are my children, and you boys will be staying here for as long as you want."

Ace snickered. "That's what this old man said to Luffy."

Marco and Whitebeard looked to Rayleigh questioningly. "Just a little pep talk," Rayleigh shrugged and grinned.

"So what do we do with these guys?" Marco jerked his thumb to the tied-up men.

"Does Doflamingo know the boys' whereabouts?" Whitebeard asked.

"N-no," the last one finally spoke. "Just us. We overheard some of your men talking about some kids on your ship. We didn't tell anyone. I swear! I promise we won't say a thing about them!"

"They're all yours, Marco," Whitebeard said.

"Perfect-yoi," Marco grinned evilly at the men, causing them to shiver in fear.

"Marco," Sabo said shyly with Ace right by his side, "we were wondering if you could teach us to use Haki. We want to get stronger, so we can help Luffy next time."

Marco looked to Whitebeard, who nodded, and back to the kids. "Sure thing-yoi. Just don't be disappointed if you don't get it quickly. It's not something easily learned. In fact, only a quarter of the crew can use it-yoi." The boys nodded in understanding. "All right, then. We can start tomorrow while we wait for Rayleigh to finish his work-yoi. I'm sure some of the others wouldn't mind teaching you boys a few moves too. Now that everything's been sorted out, let's go make sure Luffy didn't already eat everything in the kitchen."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry for taking so long to update. Stuff came up, and I forgot. :P

In the last chapter, during the Luffy vs Izo part, Izo was taking it easy on Luffy. So it's not like Luffy actually beat Izo in a real right or anything. Guess I forgot to clarify that somewhere in there. Sorry! :P

Shanks and Devil Fruits will show up in a few more chapters. ^_^v


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 10/22/18.

 **Chapter 7**

 _Two wrongs don't make a right,  
but they do make a good excuse._

 _\- Thomas Szasz_

Marco noticed when he lost Luffy's interest as he explained Haki to the trio. The boy's eyes started to wander, exploring what they could from the grove that Moby Dick was anchored in. Before the kid could poke at the bubble that floated up from the ground, Marco called his attention back to them.

"Now, pay very careful attention," he told the two older boys. "Luffy, avoid all my attacks but no attacking back. Can you do that-yoi?" Once Luffy nodded in understanding, Marco launched a series of kicks at the boy, a little slower than usual, all of which were easily evaded just by side-stepping them all. "That is one way of using Observation Hak-yoi," Marco explained once he was done. "If you know when and where an attack is coming, then they can be easily evaded with minimal movement to conserve energy. Another is one that you already know about-yoi. Luffy, I'm going to go out on a limb on this, but how many people are on this island?"

Luffy tilted his head for a long moment before he scrunched up his face, "Too many."

"Is the number too high for you to count-yoi, or is it because you can't see the whole archipelago?"

"Too many people? But," the boy frowned in thought, "Bekky is coming with somebody I don't know."

Marco paused to look at the boy for a moment, processing what was said about the member of his division. "Did you say Bekky is coming this way?" Luffy nodded. "Are you sure? How can you tell it's Bekky?"

"It's Bekky," the boy said confidently. "Bekky is Bekky."

"I see," the commander said thoughtfully, before an idea hit him. "Do you know where Pops is-yoi?"

"That way," Luffy pointed somewhere to his left after a short pause.

"Thatch?"

"That way," this time he moved his finger slightly to the right.

"How long until Bekky gets here-yoi?" At this point, Marco had already confirmed that someone was indeed heading their way and was about ten minutes out from them.

"Soon?"

Marco sighed and turned back to the two confused boys. "What he's demonstrated is a higher form of Observation Haki-yoi. I personally have never met anyone who can differentiate who's who. Normally, you can tell when someone is near or where a person is hiding-yoi. I'm actually curious to know if he had this skill before Doflamingo or if that bastard did something," he muttered the last part to himself. Marco continued, "I've already explained two forms of Haki. We'll leave armament for next time and focus on observation first. Both of you come and attack me and try to dodge my attacks."

Luffy took a seat at the base of the grove and watched them spar before he got bored again. He really did try to pay attention at first but didn't understand what Marco was trying to explain. All he understood was the man was trying to explain this haki-thing, whatever that was. He didn't want to fall asleep because of the unknown person that was coming with the First Division member. There was no telling what kind of person they were. Though, the person was with Bekky, so it should be safe?

He tried his best to stay awake, but he was so bored. There was only so much he could do with the bubbles that kept popping up. So he picked up some rocks around him and started throwing them at Marco to help his brothers out. If he accidentally hit his brothers, well, that was their fault for jumping in the wrong place. He snickered.

The next thing he knew, Luffy was enveloped in a bubble that had formed right under him. He stared at it in fascination as it slowly formed and moved up his body. After it covered his small body, it started to float upward with him in it. The boy stared in awe as he continued upward. With a huge smile of excitement, he watched as his brothers and Marco got further and further away, growing smaller and smaller as he floated above them.

Then realization hit him. The excitement of an adventure popped, just like the other bubbles around him once he made it above the groves. Panicking, he started crying for his brothers to come and get him. He didn't know how to get back down, and if his bubble popped, he'd fall. He was sure a fall from this height would hurt a lot. If he got hurt, his brothers would be sad. That thought alone made him cry even harder.

All of a sudden, a loud pop resounded around him. The sound itself startled him enough to make him stop crying for second, before he realized what had happened. He then screamed as he began to descend so fast he couldn't open his eyes from the air pressure.

Ace, Sabo, and Marco stopped what they were doing when they heard Luffy yelling for them. The three of them looked at the tree where the boy had been and saw that he was no long there. This time they heard crying from above them and looked up just in time to see the bubble Luffy was in pop.

Marco moved his arms out to transform them into fiery wings and was ready to take off into the air, when a movement to his left caught his attention. It was Bekky. His division member had already climbed the large mangrove and was halfway up when he kicked off into the air and caught Luffy. The man effortlessly twisted in the air, to avoid having the boy in his arms be crushed, and rolled once they reached the ground so their landing wouldn't hurt as much. Once Bekky was on the ground and sitting up, they saw Luffy clutching the man around the neck so hard that Bekky was having a hard time breathing.

"Lu-," he croaked, patting the hysterical boy's arm, "air. Let go."

The three and one other man they didn't know, rushed over to check on them. Ace and Sabo had to pry the boy off, letting the man get his much needed air supply back into his lungs.

"You okay there, buddy-yoi?" Marco asked, kneeling next to his crew mate with his hand on the man's back.

"Yeah," he breathed out as he rubbed his neck. "What was the brat doing up there?"

"Looks like he somehow got himself in a bubble in the ten minutes we left him alone-yoi," Marco gave a worried look to Luffy, who was now sobbing in Sabo's chest.

"It's okay, Lu," Sabo tried to soothe the poor boy. "You're okay, now." He and Ace repeated the words until Luffy calmed down.

"What happened?" Ace asked softly once the boy was down to only sniffles.

"The bubble ate me and took me away," Luffy wailed again, causing Sabo to hug him tighter, rocking him in his arms.

"It's okay. No bubble's going to take you away from us. Ace and I will make sure nothing will take you away from us."

"Promise?" the boy sniffled as he looked up at the both of them with eyes full of hope.

"We promise," Ace smiled as he ruffled Luffy's hair.

"Great. Now that we have that all settled-yoi," Marco called their attention back to him, "who's this?" He jerked a thumb to the stranger crouched on the other side of Bekky.

"Oh, yeah!" Bekky brightened and slapped the guy on the back. "This is my old best buddy, West. We just ran into each other. We haven't seen each other in years. West, this is my commander, Marco."

"Oh? And how did you end up on Shabaody-yoi? I thought Bekky was raised in West Blue," Marco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"After Bekky left to become a pirate, I sailed around on various merchant ships to offer my service as a guard. Next thing I knew, one of the ships I was on was headed to Grand Line," West shrugged. "Luckily, I fought with Bekky enough when we were younger, so I had enough experience to hold my own. Had a few close calls though. The last ship had a rare tiger they wanted to sell here. My contract with them is over and here I am, waiting for another ship to come along to offer my services to."

"I asked if he'd be interested in joining Pops's crew," Bekky grinned.

The three men turned their heads toward the sound a loud growl. "Hungry," Luffy said from his perch on Sabo's lap, drool dripping from his mouth. "Tiger?" He tilted his head to look longingly at his brothers.

Ace and Sabo both turned their heads to Marco.

"Sorry, kid," Marco said, gaining Luffy's attention. "There's no tiger on this island-yoi."

The boy's stomach growled once more. "Crocodile?"

"NO CROCODILE!" both Ace and Sabo punched Luffy's head.

"WHY?" the boy whined at his brothers as he rubbed his pained head.

"Kids!" Marco called their attention. "Thatch will be back in time for lunch. Just wait another hour-yoi."

"But I'm hungry now."

Marco looked at the boy to tell him to be patient, but the look he was given back was just too pitiful. If he didn't know any better, the First Division Commander would have thought Ace and Sabo taught Luffy that wide-eyed look just so he could get anything he wanted. No. Just another hour. He just had to distract Luffy for another hour. Marco heaved a sigh. "How about this. I'll get you a snack if you can knock Bekky off his feet-yoi." Here he gave Bekky a meaningful look.

"Excuse me," West said, feeling a little lost and confused, "What's with the kids?"

"These," Bekky said with a flourish as if presenting something amazing, "are our very own -"

"Troublemakers," Marco interrupted. "They're troublemakers, that's what they are. Anyway, Pops isn't here right now-yoi. You can help me train these two while we wait for him. I need Bekky to help with chibi." He jerked a thumb over to Luffy. "He's two handfuls and a half. I swear the kid can't sit still and stay out of trouble-yoi."

"It's not Luffy's fault!" Ace huffed at Marco.

"That's right," Sabo agreed, hugging Luffy tighter to himself. "It's not Luffy's fault he's stupid."

"I would have to agree-yoi," Marco gave them a bland look as he teased them. "I blame you two for his stupidity."

"Hey!" they both shouted as Luffy giggled at them.

Marco picked the small boy up and tossed him over to Bekky, who caught the boy easily. "Nothing too overboard and bare hands only-yoi," he instructed them.

"Are you guys seriously sailing with these brats?" West asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

"You got a problem with that?" Ace and Sabo asked defensively.

West looked at the kids then to Marco for an indication of anything, a trick, confirmation, something.

Marco only shrugged and pointed to their ship, where he saw three men, who'd seen better days, tied up and unconscious. A few of his division members had to take a couple of their row boats to dump the dead ones out in the middle of the sea. "I suggest you don't underestimate the brats-yoi." He tossed a staff to West. "Don't go easy on them."

"All right!" Sabo cheered.

"Someone easier than Marco!" Ace followed.

West turned his head to look at the three unconscious men once more, noting their bruised and bloodied state, then back to the kids. "I'd rather not fight kids, no matter how strong they are." He rubbed the back of his head as he gave Marco an embarrassed look, before turning his head to where Bekky was currently teasing Luffy about the kid's weak punches, only to grab his shin in pain when Luffy kicked him, pouting.

West jerked a thumb over to his friend. "I'd rather play with him."

"Oh, no, you don't. You're playing with us!" Ace and Sabo cried out as they launched themselves at the man, who immediately brought up his staff to block their kicks.

He grunted at the force of the kick, taking a step back to keep himself from falling backwards. The next thing he knew, West was blocking this side and that side, defending himself from a couple of kids aiming to maim him. All the while, the kids still had enough breath to continue yelling at him to keep away from their baby brother, along with other profanities he didn't think kids their age should even know the meaning of. Yup. Definitely pirate kids.

Unsure of how to handle these two fireballs, the man turned to look at Marco for assistance, only to see the commander raise an eyebrow at him as if asking, 'Aren't you going to fight back?' West raised his own eyebrow to ask, 'You really want me to attack them?' The reply he got back was a shrug.

West ducked an incoming kick aimed for his head as he sighed and hoped the Phoenix wouldn't kill him if he accidentally hurt the kids badly.

Ace and Sabo both jumped away the moment they noticed the change in the man's stance. They nodded at each other before going back to attacking the man. This time Sabo went behind in hopes of getting into his attacker's blind spot.

Five minutes into the renewed fight and the two boys' continued beat down, Marco finally spoke up, but it wasn't to stop the fight. "Don't just watch with your eyes-yoi, sense it."

Really, West thought it was about time to stop this one sided spar. These kids were going to end up as two walking bruises the next day.

The little pep talk seemed to have worked or something because the kids were getting hit less and less and dodging more. It was half an hour later when the three of them were on the ground panting.

"I give," the blond child wheezed.

"Food," moaned the brunette.

Marco finally stepped away from his post at the tree trunk and turned to the other two grove occupants. "Bekky, take Luffy with you to fish up something to eat. Thatch should be back by the time you catch something-yoi."

"Bait!" Luffy practically demanded as he pointed to their four captives.

Marco shrugged, and Luffy cheered as he dragged Bekky over to the captives with him.

Moments later, West was startled upright when he heard screaming. He looked out to sea where he saw his friend and the small kid laugh as their bait screamed and wiggled to and fro from his place tied to the end of a pole.

"I thought he was joking," West said disbelievingly.

Ace huffed as he turned over to lay on his stomach and perch himself on his elbows to watch his brother fish. "I hope a sea king eats him."

West looked at Marco who was also watching the duo out in the small boat with disinterest.

"He deserves it," Sabo said in the same position as his brother. "They wanted to kidnap Luffy."

"Don't worry-yoi," Marco placed a hand on West's shoulder. "We were planning on killing them anyway. Seems some people forgot that no one messes with Whitebeard's family-yoi. Besides, we're pirates, if you haven't noticed. We kill if we feel like it. Don't tell me you're not okay with that-yoi."

"No, no. Don't get me wrong. It's not like I haven't killed anyone either," West scratched the back of his head. "It's just that…I mean…kids!" He really didn't know any other way to explain his shock.

"These kids are pirates too-yoi. It doesn't matter their age. They have their reasons to be here, just don't think too much about it-yoi," Marco patted the other man's shoulder before walking away to set up an area for the Fourth Division to cook.

West and the two kids stayed where they were in uncomfortable silence as they watched the other two in the boat. They were startled some unknown amount of time later when Thatch plopped himself in between West and Sabo. "I hope they aren't planning on letting whatever they catch eat that guy," Thatch said as if he'd been there with them the whole time. "That wouldn't taste too good."

"Oh," Ace said with a frown. "Can we just feed them to the other sea kings then?"

"Of course, you can," Thatch reached over Sabo to ruffle the boy's dark hair. "Marco says they're all yours, so have at it. Just make sure it's not any that we'll be eating."

"Thatch?" The commander looked down at the blond, seeing the alarmed look on the boy's face. "I think there's a problem," Sabo pointed out towards his little brother.

Thatch turned his head to follow the finger just to see a sea king towering over the small boat.

"Marco! Luffy's doing it again!" he called out as if he were a child tattling on one of his siblings for doing something stupid, before jumping into the ocean to swim to the pair.

"What the fuck!" they could hear the First Division Commander's frustrated voice as it came near. West, Ace, and Sabo's eyes never once strayed from Luffy's boat, in fear that they'd miss something. "They were only out there for twenty minutes-yoi. How can they get into trouble already?"

Then the trio on the ground felt a gust of wind pass over them and saw a fiery blue-gold bird flying towards Luffy.

"So," West said as he dragged out the vowel, "this happens often?"

The two kids shrugged, eyes still out at sea, watching Marco take over Bekky's hold of Luffy, who wouldn't let go of the sea king's whiskers. Thatch finally pulled himself up and into the boat and managed to punch the beast unconscious.

"Marco insists that we find trouble just sitting in a corner," Sabo said. "That's completely untrue."

Ace nodded in agreement with his brother. "Like that time when we were really sitting in a corner, hiding from Blamenco. A bird just came out of nowhere and took off with Luffy."

"Trouble finds us," they both concluded in unison.

"I see," was all the baffled man could manage.

Rayleigh joined them a few minutes later, watching the struggle on the small boat. The four of them watched as Marco flapped his fiery wings frantically, with his clawed legs pulling Luffy, trying to save them from being dragged into the sea with the sea king. Bekky, with help from Thatch, managed to secure the sea king with a rope and somehow kept their boat afloat with its heavy luggage.

Marco finally landed on the boat, alongside his siblings, and that was when the three of them started scolding the poor boy. Luffy in turn, argued right back at them with his arms going this way and that way as if it would help prove his point. Their bait had fallen overboard earlier and was now drifting alongside their lunch, his ropes tangled in one of the sea beast's fin. Ace and Sabo held back a snicker as the boat came closer to shore.

"- go of the sea king-yoi," Marco scolded.

"Because! You said catch lunch. So we catch lunch. If I let go, then we has no lunch," Luffy argued.

"I don't think he meant to catch something big enough to eat us," Bekky moaned in his hands. "We could have caught something smaller."

"That take too long. This one is better. It's lots bigger and have more meat."

"Luffy," Thatch, dripping wet from his earlier swim, placed a hand over the boy's shoulder, "that thing could have eaten you."

"No, it won't. Bekky was there. He won't let the mean sea king eat me," Luffy crossed his arm as if that would end the argument.

Bekky picked the boy up and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Luffy," he wailed into the boy's hair, "your faith in me is so misplaced. Sure, I would have tried, but there's no way I could have stopped that sea king from eating you by myself. So don't do that again."

"I thinks you can," Luffy said with his small hands on either side of the man's face. "All you do is let go of me and punch the sea king like Thatch did."

"Who in their right mind would even think of letting go?" Thatch smacked the side of Luffy's head.

"But if you let go, you has a better chance to punch it," the boy said has he rubbed his sore head, a scowl clear on his little face.

Marco heaved a sigh before plucking Luffy from Bekky's arms and tossing the boy to his brothers. "There's no point in trying to talk sense into the kid. You'd have better luck talking to a rock-yoi."

"But Marco," Thatch whined, pointing to his wet hair, "look what happened to my magnificent hair! And it's all your kid's fault!"

The First Division Commander immediately whirled around to face the head cook with a scowl on his face. "How is he my kid?"

"You're in charge of them; therefore, they're your kids," Thatch grinned.

"Hey, Thatch," Luffy twisted himself in Ace's arms to face the other man, "what's mag-chicken hair? You keep chicken in your hair? Where is it? I wanna see."

They all erupted into laughter as Thatch sputtered about his hair and chickens, doing his best to explain to the boy that he doesn't keep chickens in his hair.

"Aww. Then why do you always shape it like bread? Not to keep the chicken inside?"

"BREAD?! My hair is not shaped like bread! How dare you!" Thatch lunged for Luffy, who jumped out of Ace's arms and ran away, laughing at the new game they were playing and still not understanding what he said wrong.

-*/-*/-*/

After the group finished eating, Thatch went off with Bekky and West to clean everything up with West mumbling about how much the boys ate.

Rayleigh eyed the two older boys, who were busy wiping Luffy's face. "What have you boys learned of haki so far?"

"Marco showed us Observation Haki, but he used Luffy to demonstrate," Sabo said.

"We learned about Armament too, but he didn't show us how to use it yet," said Ace. "We only know that it hardens parts of our bodies and makes our attacks stronger."

Rayleigh's only response to them was a grin. "Is that so," Rayleigh said to the two older boys. "It's also a good way to have an upper hand on people like Marco, who can't be hurt by normal attacks. If you come across another Logia user, it'll help a lot. How about a demonstration?"

Without warning the coater attacked Marco, who was speaking to their captain. Luffy stared with wide eyes. They'd never seen Marco being pushed back before, or seen any attack, be it physical attacks or with a weapon, land on the man before. They would usually go through the man's body in pretty blue and gold flames.

"That's awesome! Never seen anyone land a hit on Marco before," Sabo said with stars in his eyes, along with Ace and Luffy.

"Like I said, very useful against fruit users like Marco," Rayleigh chuckled.

"Okay, okay. Let's get you guys cleaned up-yoi. That's all we'll do for today," Marco said as he panted from the sparing match. Though it wasn't much of a spar when he was mostly defending himself from the former First mate of the late Pirate King.

Luffy was the first on deck and exclaimed at the new addition to the ship and started jumping up and down on the bubble. "Look, Ace, Sabo! Bubble ship!"

"Stop, Luffy," Sabo yelled, "What if you pop it?"

Rayleigh laughed from the ground. "Don't worry. Just jumping around like that won't pop the coating."

Once everyone made it back to the ship, they were ready to depart. The boys looked on in excitement as the crew got the ship ready to sail under the sea. Luffy ran around the deck excitedly as they sank.

"Next stop, Fishman Island," Marco announced to the boys.

"What's Fishman?" Luffy asked him.

"Namur is a Fishman." Marco looked at Luffy's confused face and tried to explain. "They look like they're half human and half fish."

A look of understanding crossed the boy's face. "Oh. Does that mean you're a birdman, since you part bird?"

That had everyone near them laughing. Luffy ignored them to run up to Namur. "We get to meet your friends?"

The fishman laughed. Truthfully, he was surprised none of the boys were afraid of him when they first met. They didn't treat him any different than anyone else on the ship. The first reaction most people would show when they saw him is fear. The kids weren't afraid of him in the same way most people were. At first they were afraid of everyone on the ship. Afraid wasn't the right word. Wary, they were wary of everyone, not just him. Slowly they opened up to everyone, even him, and they didn't even question the way he looked and just accepted him as he was.

"Yeah. One of them is waiting for us," he answered with a fond smile. Luffy cheered and ran off again, this time pointing at the various fishes. They made it to their destination without trouble.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I wasn't sure, but can Observation Haki let you know who's who? I couldn't find that information. Oh wells.

How's this chapter? Shanks and Devil Fruit after Fishman Island.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 9/10/18.

 **Chapter 8**

 _Sometimes you gotta remember,  
everyone wasn't raised like you._

 _\- Unknown_

Whitebeard called the boys over. "Don't forget what I said before. We're in New World now. We're also closer to Doflamingo's territory. Stay with Namur and don't stray from him. Do you understand?"

The boys nodded, and Whitebeard let them go to Namur, who was waiting for them. The fishman led the boys to where another fishman stood in wait. "Jinbe," Namur greeted.

"Namur, it's nice to see you again. Is Pops coming?" Jinbe asked.

"He's going through inventory with the rest of the commanders. He said you can give your report later. Right now, we're to give these brats a tour."

Jinbe looked down where Namur gestured to and looked at the three kids, two boys and a girl. "What's with the kids?"

"Long story. Pops might explain. I don't know too much about them. Good kids though. Brats, this is Jinbei, one of the Seven Warlords."

The three kids stiffened at the title, hid behind the commander, and looked at Namur as if asking for help.

Namur looked at them in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Warlords," was all Sabo hissed, and Namur somehow got the gist of it.

"Warlords are just like anyone else, like pirates. There are good ones and not so good ones. I'm assuming you've had a run-in with a bad one?" Namur explained. The three nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, he's like family. This island is under Whitebeard's protection. Jinbei is only part of the Seven Warlords to protect his crew, which consists of mostly escaped slaves, from the government." Namur explained.

"Escaped slaves?" Ace asked, feeling a little of his fear fading.

"I'm the second captain of the Sun Pirates. Our previous captain, Fisher Tiger, freed a lot of our people who were made into slaves," Jinbei went on to explain the symbol of his sun tattoo to the boys. "It's the reason why Whitebeard turned this island into his territory. So that humans won't dare to think about capturing our people again and turning them into slaves. I owe Pops a lot for that."

"Help slaves?" Luffy brightened up at that thought.

"That's right."

"Okay, then." Luffy declared. "You're good, not like Mingo."

"Who?" both Namur and Jinbe asked.

"Mingo. The pink bastard," was all Luffy said with his brothers nodding sagely with their arms crossed.

"Okay…" Namur decided not to ask. "What do you guys want to do first?"

Sabo held out his small pouch of treasures. "Cash this and buy new clothes. Ours are getting too small. I'm Sabo, by the way."

"Ace."

"Luffy!"

"Nice to meet you brats. I'm Jinbe and was just recently appointed as a Shichibukai, so I haven't met the others yet. No idea who this Mingo person is."

The two fishmen led the kids to the shopping area after exchanging the treasures for a good sum of belis. "What about Luffy?" Namur pointed to the youngest as the two older boys made their purchase.

"Luffy said he'd wear our old clothes," Sabo said as Ace paid.

"Luffy's a girl. Why would she want to wear your old clothes?" Jinbe asked, confusion clear on his face.

"Sorry, Jinbe," Namur shook his head in amusement. "Luffy's a boy. Sometimes he wears normal boy clothes, and other times he wears dresses."

Jinbe looked at Luffy as if the boy had a few screws loose before turning a critical eye on his brothers. "You let your brother wear girl clothes?"

"Yeah," Ace said defensively. "You got a problem with that? He can wear whatever he wants."

"Luffy looks good in them, at least," Sabo said brightly, watching Luffy go through a rack of dresses. "Did you find anything yet?"

"No," came Luffy's muffled answered as he tried to navigate his way out of the round rack. "Nothing pretty," he pouted as he popped himself out.

"It's okay," Jinbe said as he resigned himself to a boy that likes dresses. Whitebeard had Izo after all, what's another one. "There are plenty of other stores. I'm sure you'll find something."

"What about Criminal? It's a popular brand here on Fishman Island," Namur suggested.

Jinbe nodded. "We can also stop by other shops on our way there."

After a few stops, where Ace and Sabo bought a few more things and clothes, they made it to the store they were looking for. Luffy stared at the store window for a moment before his eyes lit up and literally dragged Namur, actually remembering his promise to Whitebeard to not leave his side, into the store.

The boy didn't stop even when they were inside, dragging a complaining Namur behind him, with the other three running in not too far behind. Luffy finally stopped in front of a man behind the counter. "I want that dress," Luffy pointed to the window.

The man looked at the boy, unimpressed with his demand. "That dress is 20,000 beli. Do you have that kind of money?"

"They do," Namur groaned from the ground. And here they all thought Luffy had no strength. Apparently all those hidden muscles only worked when he was determined to get something.

The man looked surprised at seeing Namur and Jinbe, along with the two other boys. "Oh, why didn't you say you were with Whitebeard. I take it back, it's only 15,000 beli, Whitebeard discount." The man looked the boy over and walked away to bring back the dress in question in the right size. "Why don't you go try it on?"

The clerk led Luffy to the dressing room. After putting on the dress, Luffy came back out with a pout. "It's too short," he pointed to his shorts that were peeking out from under the dress. Ace and Sabo snickered at that.

"You wear shorts under that?" Jinbe said in disbelief.

Luffy nodded proudly. "You got a longer one?" he asked the clerk.

"I'm afraid we don't," the clerk looked at the boy as if he were crazy. "If you have to wear shorts under your dress, we do have shorter shorts."

"No! Has to be longer. Ace's shorts are long."

"What?"

Ace and Sabo were rolling on the ground laughing at the clerk's reaction, as Namur hid his face under his hand.

"Luffy likes long shorts. He says it feels weird if he doesn't wear them," Ace said in between laughs.

"He's a boy," Namur sighed as he explained once more. "Do you have something similar but longer?"

"I'll see what I can find," the clerk walked away but not without looking at the kids in distaste.

It took a while for the clerk to come back. When he did, he found the boys looking through a rack of dresses, picking a couple out for Luffy to try on. The clerk handed the boy a dress he found with a sigh. A sale is a sale.

"Do you boys have enough money for all this?" Jinbe waved his hand over the few dresses that Luffy approved.

Ace and Sabo shrugged, not really sure if they did or not. "If not, we can go back to the ship and get more," Ace said.

"Anything Luffy wants," Sabo agreed.

Jinbe looked at Namur, who also shrugged, "The kid doesn't ask for much. Getting him clothes doesn't hurt." It was a lie. The kid was selfish, and it didn't help when everyone on the ship just catered to the boy.

Luckily the boys had enough for the dresses, and the group headed back out to let the kids explore the undersea island more.

After a few more hours of walking around and going into random shops, they took a break at a park. Jinbe and Namur were having a discussion about where to go for dinner, when they heard some kids yelling. They only paused for a moment before going back to deciding dinner when they recognized the voices as not one of their trio. That was when they heard what was being yelled.

They quickly turned their heads towards where they left the boys to play on the playground by themselves, to see three fishman kids and two merboys yelling insults at their three.

Namur felt a little proud of them for not fighting back. Instead, Ace and Sabo gave the five fishchildren a slight glare before getting off their swing, while Luffy looked on in confusion.

Jinbe got up from his seat with the intention to tell the kids to stop, but one decided to throw a rock. Luffy easily avoided the rock but slipped off the swing and landed on his back in the process. His two brothers ran over in concern to make sure he was okay.

Once he was sure Luffy was fine, Ace growled at the five older kids, "Why you…" He got up and took a step towards them, but was stopped by Sabo's tight hold on his wrist.

"No fighting. We promised Marco," Sabo hissed with his other arm around Luffy.

"Why are you boys bullying these kids?" Jinbe demanded, standing in front of the five fishmen children.

"Because they're humans, and humans shouldn't be here," one spat and threw another rock. This one hit Sabo on the side of his head, causing blood to trickle down his face.

Luffy stared at the thin line of blood on his brother's face. Ace and Sabo had to cover their ears as Luffy wailed at the top of his lungs. Namur had, by that time, gotten up to come over to the boys to check on them, but even he had to reel back and cover his ears from how loud the boy was.

"Luffy. Luffy! I'm fine see?" Sabo physically turned his brother's head to look at him after he wiped his face of the blood, smearing it in the process. "See? I'm still here. I'm okay. It was just a little cut. See?" That seemed to calm Luffy down to just a sniffle.

"You boys okay?" Namur asked when he could finally uncover his ears.

"Yeah," Sabo sighed in relief.

"Just because they're humans doesn't mean you just go around attacking them," they heard Jinbe say.

"We're fishmen. We're stronger than those stupid humans. We should just kill them all."

Upon hearing that, Luffy stiffened and turned to give the bullies a blank glare, all trace of emotions gone. Not only did they hurt Sabo, but they wanted to kill them too. He wasn't going to take that sitting down. He was brought up learning that if you didn't want to be killed, you had to kill first.

Ace and Sabo recognized that look from when either one of them were hurt during a mission. It was a look that promised a very painful death to the one that inflicted that wound. They did the only thing they could think of and sat on top of their brother to keep him from doing something they'd regret.

"Luffy?" Namur reached out in concern.

"DON'T!" both boys yelled at the man.

"If you come closer, he may bite," Sabo explained as he and Ace stayed on top of a very still Luffy, stopping him from any movement. This seemed to calm the boy down, but the blank look hadn't gone away, so they stayed sitting on him.

"Yeah. We should be the ones putting those collars on them." One of the bullies threatened.

Ace and Sabo looked at each other in worry as the felt Luffy freeze under them, his eyes now wide in fear. They heard Luffy muttering to himself as he started to vibrate in fear. "No collar. No collar."

"That's right. They should be our slaves instead of the other way around. We're better than them."

The blank look was no longer on Luffy's face, but the look of pure anger replaced it as he growled and struggled to knock his brothers off him.

"Dammit, Luffy. Stay still," Ace grunted after being kicked in the back.

"No. No. No. Nononononono! No collar! No more! We're not going back!"

"What's going on-yoi?" Marco asked as he landed and turned his wings back to arms. "I thought I heard Luffy screaming-yoi."

That was enough of a distraction for Luffy to knock his brothers off of him. Namur caught the boys before they fell and held onto them as they all watched Luffy muttering to himself again.

"'m not going back. We're not going back. No more collars!" he kept repeating, looking lost as he held onto his head.

"Luffy?" Marco tried to reach out to the boy, only for his hand to be knocked away.

"NO! NOT GOING BACK!" He shouted at them all. Then his eyes landed on Ace and Sabo and saw how they were being held back. "Let them go!"

Luffy charged at Namur to get his brothers back, but was blocked by Marco. "Knock it off, kid-yoi."

"Look," one of the fishmen children said, "now he's trying to attack one of our own." Now all the bullies started throwing rocks at Luffy, all the while Jinbe did what he could to stop them, getting hit by a few projectiles in the process.

Luffy slowly turned to face to the older kids, not bothering to dodge the rocks. "Don't hurt my brothers," he yelled as he ran towards them. Marco once again blocked his way by standing between Jinbe and Luffy. This time Luffy didn't even stop and launched himself at Marco.

Marco didn't hesitate as he held is arms out and turned them into flaming wings to catch the boy in a tight embrace. He struggled a bit as Luffy flailed his limbs about to kick and punch, even resorting to biting him on the shoulder, to get out of the hold. Luckily, the boy wasn't anywhere as strong as the two older boys.

"Luffy-yoi, it's okay," Marco said to the boy soothingly while softly rocking him, hoping the warm flames would help to calm boy. "No one is taking you back. Ace and Sabo are safe. Namur will protect them-yoi. I'm here, too. No one will take any of you while I'm here, okay?" Once he was sure the boy in his arms was calm, he turned off his Devil's Fruit. "There you go. Good boy. There's nothing to worry about-yoi I promise I won't let anyone take you boys from us, okay?"

Whitebeard, Haruta, and Vista arrived to see Marco rocking Luffy in his arms. "Marco's such a dotting father," Vista said with a chuckle.

"What happened?" Whitebeard asked Ace, Sabo, and Namur.

Before any of them could answer, a petite woman with an entourage of castle guards marched up to the group. The woman stopped just long enough to study everyone there before walking straight to the fishchildren, leaving the guards with the pirates. She slapped each one of the five boys on both sides of their faces hard enough to make Ace and Sabo flinch with each hit.

"Why were you tormenting that poor child?" she asked in an even voice. The two young Whitebeard pirates were surprised that she hit them before even asking.

"Because they're humans, and they were on our island," one grumbled with both hands soothing his face.

"Not a good answer," she slapped him once more over the hand that was rubbing his face and turned to the next boy. "What did that child do to you?"

"She…she…," the next boy faltered before looking more confident, "she's a savage that attacked a fishman." The boy pointed to Namur behind them.

Namur didn't say anything and just gave the Queen a slight bow in acknowledgement. He knew the Queen would be able to sort everything out.

Otohime turned to the next boy. "And why would this child do something like that?"

"Because she's human." And there goes another slap and another to the boy before him.

"Not a good answer. Try again." She turned to the fourth boy. "What does being a human have to do with anything?"

"Because humans are evil beings that likes to enslave us." And another slap.

Turning to the last boy, she gave him a slap instead of asking him a question. "Just because that child is human, has nothing to do with anything. This poor child did nothing to you. There is no reason to torture this poor soul any more than it already is." She then softened her voice as she brought them into a group hug. "No one deserves to be a slave. Not us, not humans, no one."

She then turned around to find Luffy, who had wiggled out of Marco's hold, behind her with his arms raised up, asking to be picked up. Giving the boy a warm smile, she picked him up and he snuggled his head to her chest.

"Sounds pretty," he said as he let himself relax in her hold and fell asleep. Her eyes widened slightly, before she turned to walk up to Whitebeard's group.

"Queen Otohime," Whitebeard greeted with a dip of his head while Vista and Haruta bowed.

"One of our residents came to me while we were patrolling the town and told me what happened. I wish we could have met under better circumstances," she apologized. Her eyes landed on the two other boys standing beside Namur. Ace and Sabo stiffened in fear and gave her a stiff bow.

"Your hand is bleeding, Ma'am," Sabo pointed to her slapping hand as he shakily got up from his bow.

"If I can teach those boys a lesson, then the state of my hand does not matter," she brushed it off with a kind smile as she continued to look at the boys.

"Can…can we have our brother back?" Ace asked before remembering his manners. "Please? And you really should get your hand checked."

"So this child is your brother," Otohime's feature softened as she looked at the boy in her arm. "You boys are very kind-hearted. I think I will hold onto him for a while. You boys have something to say, now is a good time while I am here. I believe if it came from you, those children will understand far better than anything I say." She took a seat on a nearby rock, shifted her hold on Luffy, and held her injured hand up for one of her guards to bandage. Ace and Sabo looked to each other, wondering how and what the woman knew.

Ace took a few determined steps past the Queen, with Sabo following, towards the fish-kids and glared at them. "Get off your high horse and quit thinking that you fish-people are everything. Your people aren't the only ones that are taken as slaves. Those idiots will even use human kids and babies." His fists were shaking from anger at their ignorance.

In a calmer manner, Sabo added, "Luffy's had less than a year of freedom in his whole life, and he's only seven. We've been teaching him lots of things. Everyday he learns something new. As a matter of fact, he didn't even know Namur, who's been with us since our first day of being free, was a fishman. To him, everyone is the same. Everyone is good, unless proven otherwise. Today, you just taught him that fishmen are bad."

Seeing the five boys flinch and deflate at that statement, Ace calmed some. "Not all humans are bad. There are some good people out there. I'm sure there are bad fishmen that live here, just like there are bad humans and good humans."

Marco placed a comforting hand on Ace's shoulder. "It's been a long day. Let's go home-yoi."

"Home," Sabo repeated sadly. "I don't think Luffy's ever had a home. Gramps said Luffy was in the middle of being transported when…and even after, we never stayed in one place for long."

"He does now-yoi," Marco said as he lightly turned them around to face Otohime and Luffy. "You'll just have to teach him what home is."

"If it is alright with you, I would like to take these children with me for a few hours," Otohime said over the objections of the Minister of the Left. "I want to teach them that not everyone on this island is bad. I also believe this boy has something special."

Whitebeard laughed. "That brat is indeed special, but I'm not sure if he can read a person's heart like you." The Queen merely smiled fondly at Luffy.

"Sounds like your kids have an interesting past," Jinbe said.

"We're kinda curious ourselves," Vista said with Haruta nodding. "I mean, there was that thing yesterday too."

"A story for the captain's room-yoi," Marco moaned with his hand over his face, standing next to their captain. "I'm pretty sure yesterday's incident was still fresh in Luffy's mind, and that's why he overreacted."

Whitebeard nodded before adding to the two boys, "With your permission, of course. I think it's best that at least the commanders know what to expect if something like yesterday were to happen again."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other uneasily before coming to an agreement. "We trust you."

"Sounds like a lovely story. I will try to bring the children back to you before dinner, so that you may have your story time," Otohime said before taking her leave with the boys in tow.

-*/-*/-*/

"How did you know Luffy's a boy?" Sabo asked.

"I just do. Just like I know how much pain this child was in," the Queen answered.

"Can we have him back?" Ace asked with his hands held out making a grabbing motion.

"Observation Haki?" Sabo guessed as she handed Luffy over to Ace. "Can Observation Haki really read people's minds?"

Otohime laughed. "No, I can't read another person's mind. I can read their heart, especially strong feelings. Yes, it is because of my strong Observation Haki. It's something I was born with. I believe your brother can too. He probably reacted to their hateful feelings."

The two young boys were in awe at the sight of Ryugu Castle once it came in sight. They followed in stunned silence as they looked this way and that at the beautiful corals decorating the undersea castle.

Otohime opened the doors wide with a cheery call as all the guards returned to their post, "Children, I'm home!"

Ace tightened his hold on Luffy and held the small head close to his chest as he and Sabo scrambled to hide behind the Queen when three slightly larger mermen and an even larger mermaid swam their way.

"You two need to have a calm heart, or your brother will wake up in a panic in an unknown place," she whispered to the two hiding behind her. "We wouldn't want that, now would we?" They both shook their heads and took a few calming breaths. They weren't completely calm, but at least they were calmer than a few seconds ago.

"Mother!" the princes and princess called out in greeting.

"Nnn?" Luffy turned his head in Ace's hold and moved a hand to rub his eyes. "Mosser? Whas that? Food?"

Otohime was surprised at the question but didn't say anything as she greeted her children.

Sabo chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair. "No, Luffy. It's mother, and it's not food. How do you feel?"

"Mmm," the boy yawned, "tired." Once he finished rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Luffy turned his head around to take in his surroundings. "Ooo! Where are we? Is pretty!" he laughed happily, kicking his legs against Ace's sides in excitement.

"Mother, did you bring guests with you?" the merman with light blue hair and blue tail asked as he peered around her at the boys.

"Yes, I did," Otohime replied. "These three are children who got caught up in a little incident at the park."

The three mermen floated behind her to get a better look at their guests, causing Ace and Sabo to stiffen again. Luffy wiggled in his brother's hold to turn himself to get a better look at them in curiosity.

"Hi, I'm Fukaboshi," greeted the blue-haired merman.

"I'm Ryuboshi," said the merman with dark pink hair and purple tail.

"I'm Manboshi," the rounder one with red ear-like fins on his head and purple tail.

"And – and I'm Shirahoshi," the large mermaid with light pink hair and tail said timidly as she tried to use her mother to hide herself. She then turned her head to her mother to ask, "Mother, are these humans?"

Ace and Sabo gave her a guarded look before Sabo answered cautiously, "Yes, we are."

"No, you're not," Luffy denied. "You're Sabo and Ace," he pointed to each one of his brothers as he said this. "And I'm Luffy!" He then wiggled in Ace's arms, wanting to be put down. The boy then stood in front of Otohime and stared at her curiously.

"What is it child?" she asked.

Luffy took a few more moments to look at her before giving her large smile. "I like you. You sounds pretty."

"Luffy," Ace said cautiously, "do you remember what happened at the park?"

"Huh?" The boy tilted his head in thought before a frown appeared on his face. "Oh. People saying mean things, and I fight with Marco."

"That's right," Sabo said. "You have to apologize when we go back. But right now, what do you need to do?"

Luffy turned back to Otohime. "Thank you for helping, Mosser."

The last word stunned everyone there, before Ace and Sabo laughed.

"Luffy, that's not her name," Sabo said.

"But thas what Hoshi call her," the confused boy pointed to the princess, who was now hovering behind her mother.

"She's their mother," Ace waved to the princes and princess, "not ours. They call her that because…uh…"

"It's like a dad, but a girl. Do you remember what a dad is?" Sabo tried to explain.

"Um, Dad is dragon. The person that help make me."

"That's right. A mother is the other person that helps the dad to make babies," Sabo tried to hold in a laugh at Luffy's answer.

"Oh~ Do that mean I have one too?"

"I'm sure you do," Ace ruffled his younger brother's hair. "You can ask Gramps the next time we see him."

"Okay," Luffy beamed him a smile. "So then, whas your name?" he asked the Queen.

Otohime crouched down in front of the boy and picked him up. "You may call me Mother. It doesn't bother me at all."

"Mmm. Okay," he placed his head over her heart. "Pretty. But Ace and Sabo sounds better. More fun, make me warm."

"The sound you hear from them is Love," she said to him as she led them through the castle. "They care for you very much. So much that even I can hear the warmth from them. You are very lucky to have them as your brothers."

Luffy giggled. "I know. Ace and Sabo's the best!" Ace and Sabo ducked their heads and blushed at the statement.

"I also would like to apologize. I am sorry for the way those children treated you. It should have never happened, but that is the way they were raised. I am trying to change that. I dream of the day when our people can live in peace with humans."

Luffy looked up to see her face. "What's human?"

"You are," Manboshi said, floating closer to them. "Humans don't have fins or tails and need air to live. We," he pointed to himself, "are fishmen, or mermen. We can live in the water and breath air."

"I don't get it. You have tail. Fishman have feet too? Namur says he's a fishman, and he have feet."

"No, Luffy," Sabo said. "Remember that book we showed you with lots of different animals? Just like tigers are different than lions, even though they don't look the same, they're still types of cats. Prince Manboshi is a Merman, but is still considered a fishman."

"Oh~ Okay. So it's a mystery."

"Here we are," Otohime said as they entered a beautiful garden. "Why don't we have lunch out here?"

"Yay! Food!" Luffy cheered as he was placed down on a stone bench under a gazebo.

"Are you sure?" Sabo asked timidly as he and Ace took a seat on either side of their excited brother. "We eat a lot and our table manner is atrocious." Especially Ace and Luffy, Sabo thought to himself.

"Yeah," Ace looked away from them and scratched the back of his head self-consciously, "it's not like we ever had a chance to eat with royalty."

"There is no need to worry," Otohime smiled at them. "Eat how you want. No one here will be offended."

"Just," Sabo hesitated as he looked to the royal children in front of them, "don't think that all humans eat like us. We're a special case, well, more like Luffy is."

"What do you mean? Why Luffy?" the oldest son asked.

"Luffy," Ace looked to the young boy beside him playing with his silverware and plate, not paying attention to them, "was never raised by an adult. It's just been me and Sabo, and well, you know, kids don't make very good parents." He ducked his head down in shame.

"My parents forced me to learn things at a very young age, but they weren't very good role models. And the adults that raised Ace weren't respectable people, but they were good people. The problem is that we weren't raised by adults very long ourselves. So we don't really know what we're doing." Sabo chuckled.

"Nonsense," the Queen admonished them. "Just look at your brother. See how happy he is? You have given him everything he needs. Love, happiness, and a place in your heart."

"Mother?" Shirahoshi gave her mom a questioning look. "Isn't a brother a boy, like Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, and Manboshi? Luffy is a girl, right?"

"Uh, sorry," Ace was red in the face. "That would be our fault. Luffy's a boy, but we let him wear what he wants."

"Maybe we should break him of that habit," Sabo said thoughtfully. "It's already causing a lot of confusion."

"Yeah, but he won't be happy if we tell him he can't wear what he wants. Not to mention he looks good in them," Ace said to Sabo.

"Yeah, but imagine when he grows up. People would make fun of him for wearing a dress, when he's clearly a boy," Sabo stated.

"What's wrong with my dress?" Luffy perked up, finally hearing something that interested him. "It's pretty." He got up from his seat to twirl around to show off his dress.

"Hm, yes, that is a very pretty dress-jamon," said a deep voice from behind the boys. "Though, it looks like it's seen better days-jamon."

Startled, Ace and Sabo turned their heads around to see a large merman with a scruffy orange beard and hair with a blue tail and a crown over his head. The merman waved a hand over to someone and said something before sending her away.

"Father!" the royal children greeted the large merman and the princess floated over to give him a hug.

"What's a fasser?" Luffy asked.

"Father, Luffy. It's another way to say dad," Ace explained.

"Oh, okay. You a dragon then?"

The man laughed. "No. I'm a coelacanth merman, King of Ryugu Kingdom, Neptune-jamon."

"I thought dad is dragon," Luffy's smile fell. "I wanna see real dragon."

Sabo sighed. "Luffy, dragons are mythical creatures. I don't think anyone's ever seen a real one. And Dragon is your dad's name, not what he is. Your dad's not a reptile."

"I don't get it."

"Ugh, maybe we should make Gramps show Luffy a picture of his dad or something," Ace mumbled with his hand over his face.

Neptune laughed as he took a seat next to his wife and children. "You children are amusing-jamon. I hear you sail with Whitebeard? Oh, here it comes-jamon." He waved over to the maid he talked to earlier and took something that she handed him. He held it out to them to take. "Please take this as an apology for what my people have done to you. I hope it's the right size-jamon."

Ace took the item from the man's hands and held it up. It was a pink dress, similar to the one Luffy was wearing but longer.

Luffy's eyes sparkled and he immediately pulled off the one he was wearing to put on the new one. "Thank you, Scruffy! It's pretty!" He twirled in it.

Both his brothers face palmed. "His name isn't Scruffy, Luffy. You're being rude."

"Huh?"

Neptune laughed. "Don't worry about it. I can already tell this one is a little on the special side. Just a little-jamon." He laughed some more.

"Honey!" Otohime slapped her husband's arm.

"Ow. What did I do-jamon?" the big man whined.

Lunch came and it was filled with laughter and flying food, but the royal family didn't mind. Afterward, the children played in the garden. The princes even taught the human children how to use the Bubbly Coral. They taught Luffy how to play tag and chased each other in the garden, using the bubbles to help them float up and around the garden.

When it was time for the three to return back to the ship, Otohime and Neptune escorted them back.

-*/-*/-*/

After dinner that night, Whitebeard called all his commanders, Jinbe, and the boys to his room.

"You sure you want Luffy here-yoi?" Marco whispered to Sabo.

"Not really, but he won't leave us," Sabo replied. "I have a feeling that he knows he's different. I mean there was that thing yesterday, and then the way he acted today. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like he's unsure of himself? He even picked up a fork and tried to use it during lunch."

"This meeting may help him understand himself more," Marco said, "and maybe answer some of our questions-yoi."

"Maybe," Sabo said slowly, "but Ace and I want Luffy to grow up thinking he's a normal person. Not some hypnotized killer, or whatever it is."

"It's okay. He has you and Ace to remind him that he's not just a tool. I know you've heard many times already-yoi, but really, you boys have raised him right."

"Aren't we a little too young to be parents," Sabo grinned.

"Yes, but you're not too young to be good older brothers. Not to mention, the brat already labeled you boys as his parents," Marco grinned back.

That was when Ace and Luffy walked into the meeting room, with Luffy now cleaned up from his messy dinner. Sabo looked at Ace in concern over Luffy's depressed look. Luffy took Sabo's hand so that he was holding both of his brothers' hands. Sabo could feel his brother's hand shake.

"Boys," Whitebeard started the meeting, "it is entirely up to you what you tell us, but be assured that anything you say will leave never this room."

"We understand," Ace looked up at the man. "We'll tell you what we know. I'm not sure if we'll be able answer all your questions though." He looked to Luffy, who was staring at the floor. "You and Marco already know almost everything we do know. I'm not sure what else to tell you."

"You can start by telling the rest of us," Thatch offered, though he smiled at them softly. "I'm sure most of us already know that you three were slaves before we met you. You don't have to tell us everything if it's too hard though."

"No, we'll tell you everything. It may make things easier to understand," Sabo said. "It's like you said. We were slaves, but we didn't just clean house or do whatever it is normal slaves do. We were assassins."

Everyone, but Whitebeard and Marco, who had already heard all this, blanched at that.

"Yeah. Sabo and I were only five when we were kidnapped," Ace continued. "We had bomb collars at the time. We couldn't say no. Though, we did try to fight our way out, they were all stronger than us."

"About a week later, Luffy joined us. According to Gramps, Luffy was taken more than a year before us, so we don't know what happened to him before then. Do you remember anything before you came to us?" Sabo asked Luffy.

The young boy shook his head. "Only member Ace and Sabo."

"You can't really blame him-yoi. He was probably too young to remember anything that far back," Marco said.

Ace went on to take the stares off of Luffy. "We didn't know why at the time, but Luffy was the only one without a collar, and we didn't know Luffy could fight at the time. He was tiny, probably around two or so. We did our best to teach Luffy to protect himself when we weren't able to. At first we got easy jobs, and it wasn't too hard to protect him. But the jobs got harder and harder, and well, let's just say we were surprised when he killed those guys without batting an eye."

"We were sent from one ship to another, doing whatever the captain of that ship told us to do. They were all probably orders from the boss. I guess they realized how close we'd gotten to Luffy, because they eventually took off our collars and gave Luffy the small ankle collar because it's less noticeable and easier for us to infiltrate," Sabo continued when Ace paused. "The last one was the worst. I'm guessing he didn't realize how important Luffy was to the boss. They would all beat Luffy to get us to listen, but the last one was the cruelest. Luffy always looked half-dead when he was sent back."

"Who's this boss? Do you know?" asked Jinbe.

"Joker," both of the older boys answered grimly.

"Mingo, the pink bastard," Namur repeated what Luffy said earlier, now understanding the name better. The boys nodded.

"We really didn't know until yesterday, but he wants Luffy back." They tightened their grip on Luffy when they felt him shake even harder, and Sabo continued. "Apparently the bastard's been experimenting with making his own army of proficient killers, a killing machine that can easily pick up any fighting style. Luffy is his one and only success."

"He apparently picked up Armament Haki somewhere. He was hitting me with a little bit of it," Marco said.

"Maybe he picked it up from watching you and Rayleigh spar yesterday," Ace shrugged.

"But Haki isn't something that can be learned just by watching," Marco countered.

"He knows Observation Haki," Sabo said. "Who knows how he picked that one up."

"That is definitely not something you can learn just by watching," Vista rubbed the end of his mustache in thought.

"Either it was something Doflamingo did or he was born with it," Whitebeard concluded.

"Queen Otohime thinks he was born with it," Ace said.

"That would make more sense, considering how strong it is-yoi," Marco mused. "He's able to tell apart each individual aura-yoi," he explained what he had found out from testing the boy on Saobody.

"So that's what's been going on," Haruta mused before she clarified. "There had been a rash of children going missing."

"What kind of children?" Ace asked.

"I heard they were mostly troublemakers without families that would want them back. Why? Does it ring a bell?" Haruta answered.

"Sounds like us, but we lived in a forest with mountain bandits. We were pretty well known in Goa for picking fights with the local thugs. I think the reason we were taken was because of that and because we knew how to hunt or fight or whatever," Ace explained.

"That would be a good candidate," Izo mumbled to himself. "Better than training kids how to fight from scratch."

"I just can't believe anyone would even think of doing something like that," Thatch shook his head. "That's just wrong on so many levels."

Jinbe didn't know what to say but shook his head. Kids, even worse, babies, were taken from their families. Wait. "What about your families? You said you lived with Mountain Bandits."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other before they told them of their past and lineage and how they came to live with the mountain bandits through their Gramps. They were relieved when none of them commented about their real parents.

"And who is this Gramps?" Jinbe asked, being the only that wasn't present when the marine arrived.

"Garp," they both answered easily.

"Garp? You mean Garp, as in Vice-Admiral Garp, the fake Marine Hero that's actually an informant to the Revolutionaries and select pirates? That Garp?" Jinbe exclaimed. He turned to look at each of the commanders as they all nodded. "And you all knew that?"

"Well, it was a very tearful reunion when we called him about getting these kids into some kind of foster care-yoi," Marco said.

"And we found out that Gramps is Luffy's Grandpa," Sabo offered.

"Yeah," Fossa nodded. "That was a surprise."

"I wonder if Doflamingo knew that he had the son of the late Pirate King and the son of a runaway noble with a conscious taking care of his prized possession," Thatch said. "Well, even if he did, there's no way he could replicate that."

"I doubt that he knew, otherwise, he'd keep Ace as a bargaining chip with the government, and Luffy would be used to get Dragon to do what he wanted, not sending them out where they could be killed at any given moment-yoi," Marco stated.

"Wait," Jinbe held out a hand to stop them. "What does Dragon have to do with this?"

"Luffy's his son-yoi." There was stunned silence as Marco's words processed.

Before anyone could say anything, Whitebeard cut in. "Because of who these kids are and who they used to work under, they are here under my protection, instead of sending them to foster care."

"Well, okay. You boys sure are one surprise after another," Rakuyo laughed.

"…monster," Luffy mumbled through his tears.

"What did you say Luffy?" Sabo asked gently as he wiped the boy's tears.

"I'm a monster," Luffy repeated. He let go of Sabo's hand and hugged Ace, pressing his face into his brother's body, crying.

Ace rubbed the boy's back soothingly. "Who said that?" Ace growled. "Who told you you're a monster?"

Luffy mumbled something, but they couldn't understand him.

"Luffy," Ace tried to push the boy's face away, "we can't understand you, if you keep crying like that."

"Is true. I'm a monster. I'm strange. I do things I'm not supposed know how. Mingo did something. I don't know what," he couldn't stop his body from shaking. His voice trembled. "I'm a monster that's not suppose to be here."

Sabo untied his cravat and used it to wipe Luffy's face. "Ace and I want you here. We don't care if you're a monster. We just want you here with us." He gave a glare to Ace, letting him know this was what he went through with Ace when he was angry about his blood.

Thatch walked over and picked Luffy up, carrying him in one arm so that he could see everyone. "Take a good look at everyone here, Luffy. Almost everyone here has been called a monster at one time or another. Hell, most people run from us when they hear we're part of the Whitebeard Pirates. What I'm trying to say is, you're not alone. We've all done something in the past that we're not proud of, but it's a part of us. And don't you worry about that pink bastard. With all the monsters on this ship, there's no way he'll be able to take you back." Thatch laughed, causing Luffy to giggle hesitantly.

"Now, let's get you some warm milk and get you to bed," Thatch said as he walked towards the door. "Milk and plenty of sleep will help you grow like the rest of your monster brothers here."

"Brothers," Luffy said as he perched his head on Thatch's shoulder to look back at the other commanders and Whitebeard. "I have lots of brothers." Everyone smiled at the boy and nodded.

"Still, I wonder where he heard that from," Sabo mused to Ace. "I don't remember anyone calling him that." All Ace could do was shrug as he followed Thatch out.

-*/-*/-*/

The next day, Luffy and his brothers went with Jinbe to Gyoncorde Plaza to see the Queen again. Luffy had wanted to see her once more before they left later that evening, and Jinbe agreed to escort them.

There they found Otohime atop a platform with other people surrounding her, handing her papers excitedly.

"Mosser!" Luffy yelled as he ran towards her for a hug.

"Mosser?" Jinbe questioned the other two boys.

"He thinks Mother is her name and can't say it right, and she says it's okay," Ace shrugged.

"Luffy!" she said as she hugged him. "It's nice to see you again before you leave. And I see you're wearing boys clothes today, but aren't they a bit too big for you?"

"These are Ace's clothes," the boy giggled. "He say I'll grow big to fit one day. My old clothes don't fit no more, so I'm growing!"

"That's good," she said fondly as Ace and Sabo walked up the steps onto the platform. "Why don't you boys help?"

"What are we doing?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"You are going to help me reach my dream," she winked at him. "These papers will help us live in peace with the humans. Just help the people put these papers in these baskets for me."

It was not long after that that one of the baskets filled with petitions caught fire. Soon after, everyone was in a panic as the other baskets also caught fire from the flying embers. People were all over the place, trying to put out the fire and save the papers from being destroyed. In the midst of it all, a gunshot was heard, and Luffy, who had been up on the platform with Otohime, witnessed her fall.

"MOSSER!"

Ace, Sabo, and the three princes all rushed up after hearing the cry. There were orders for the guards to search for the culprit, but none of that mattered for the children. Shirahoshi was in too much of a shock to move as quickly as her brothers.

Fukaboshi pushed away the Minister of the Right, who was holding his mother, to hold her himself. "Who was it?" he howled in rage. "I'll destroy whomever is responsible!"

Luffy cried even harder at the rage he felt from the prince. He hadn't moved from where he was frozen when the shot happened. Ace and Sabo had to drag him away from the burning flames and closer to Otohime's body in the center of the platform.

It was only at Otohime's gentle touch did the older prince's reasoning come back. She still had enough energy left in her to tell her sons her last words, refusing medical treatment from the guards. It was already too late for her anyway.

"Luffy, I'm saying this to you also, please stop crying and listen," she said softly as she felt her energy starting to leave her.

Luffy sniffled and crawled a little closer to her so that she could see him. "Mosser?"

"You're a good child. I am grateful for being able to meet you and your brothers. Live in the present, live for the future, forget the bad, remember the good. Children," she looked over her sons and back to Luffy and his brothers, before settling on her oldest child, "please, whoever the culprit is, don't be angry for me. Don't lose to your anger and hatred because of me."

They all, including Ace and Sabo couldn't stop the tears from coming, knowing her end was near. In their grief induced state, they didn't even feel the ground shaking under them until Otohime spoke again. "Shirahoshi, control yourself."

Ryuboshi and Manboshi did the first thing they could think of to stop their sister from going out of control. They did a strange dance to calm their sister down from her hysterical cries.

"Mother," Fukaboshi said once his sister calmed down, "we'll recollect the burnt signatures, and we'll become great soldiers like our father. Just as we promised, we'll protect Shirahoshi with our lives. So please don't worry." He forced a smile onto his face for his mother through his tears.

Luffy tearfully joined in their pinky promise, along with Ace and Sabo. "Me too," Luffy said tearfully. "I help protect, too."

The Queen gave the three human children a smile. "You children are too kind. Thank you. It's just a hair's breadth away, the light of the real sun."

After the burial, the fishmen citizens who came to visit the Queen's grave would see the human boys either sitting or lying next to her headstone. Even the Whitebeards came to pay their respect.

"Luffy," Sabo said softly by late evening "come on. Let's go back to the ship. You haven't eaten anything all day."

Luffy had laid down with his cheek pressed into the ground, facing his brothers. "Sabo, Ace," he said with a determined voice, even though the tears were evident on his face, "'m gonna get stronger. More stronger, and more stronger, and more stronger, and more stronger, so I can protect everyone."

"You do that, Luffy," Ace said fondly as he crouched down to pat the boy's head. "We'll help you because we have to get stronger too."

"As do we," Fukaboshi said coming up from behind them.

"Hoshi brothers," Luffy said as he sat up on the mound of dirt.

"We will get stronger too, in order to protect what is dear to us," the oldest brother said as his two younger brothers nodded in agreement.

"You mad at me?" Luffy sniffled as more tears came down. "I was there, and I didn't save her."

Ryuboshi floated over to the young boy and pulled him into a hug. "We're not mad at you. There is nothing to be mad about. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it is," he cried and clutched the prince's shirt. "I was there!"

Fukaboshi placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's as you said. We have to get stronger, strong enough to protect those dear to us. We're not mad at you. So do not blame yourself."

Luffy sat up and wiped the tears off his face. "Okay," he sniffled. "I'm gonna get more stronger."

"You should get going," the older prince said. "Your captain has been waiting for you. We'll play again the next time you visit."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Opps. This one came out long. I didn't know where to stop this chapter. :P


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Beta by **Navigator101** , updated on 9/10/18.

 **Chapter 9**

 _You will do foolish things,  
but do them with enthusiasm._

 _\- Colette_

The day after they left Fishman Island, Luffy was back to his normal cheery self. The night they left, before going to bed, he promised himself that he would do as Otohime said: "To forget the bad and remember the good." He'd always remember her beautiful sound and her kindness.

Now he would challenge his brothers to spar with him almost everyday, in order to get stronger. He and his brothers were determined to keep their promise to be strong enough to protect everyone important to them.

They even asked some of the crew members to help them. Of course, Ace and Sabo made sure to stress to them that Luffy was not to use any weapons. The older men shrugged them off as being over protective brothers and made fun of them for that. Even though they teased the boys, the men did as requested and only helped the boy strengthen his muscles.

One afternoon, the boys were on lookout duty together in the crow's nest when a small black bird flew by. They were quite proud of themselves when Whitebeard trusted them enough to let them do something more official than cleaning duty.

"A bird! A bird! Marco! It's a bird!" Luffy cried out as he pointed to the bird flying towards the ship.

Marco woke up from where he was napping against the main mast, where he was also secretly keeping an eye on the boys, and looked up as the bird swept down and hovered near him until he lifted a hand for it to land. He took the envelope the bird was carrying, and the bird flew back to where it had come from.

The First Division Commander opened the envelope and took out a couple of papers. He looked at them before he smiled. Rather than calling the boys down from their post, he turned his arms into fiery blue and gold wings and flew up to them.

Once he landed on the edge of the crow's nest, he eyed the boys' clothes in pride. Izo had the nurses help stitch variations of Whitebeard's symbol onto all of their clothes so that everyone would know who they would be messing with if anything were to ever happen to them. It was also on the slight chance that it would deter Doflamingo from kidnapping them again.

"Hey, brat, this is for you-yoi," Marco handed Luffy the papers.

Luffy took the papers and tried reading the top sheet. "For…Luffy. That's me!" he pointed to his name and continued reading. "Use … this … if you ev..er need … me." He looked at the other sheet of paper that only had the letter D written on the lower right corner. "Wha's this?" he waved both papers at Marco.

"This one," Marco pointed to the almost blank sheet, "is a vivre card-yoi. If you lay it flat on the ground, it'll move towards the person it's connected to." He placed it on the floor for them to see it twitch and shift a little to the left. "If you follow this paper, it'll take you to Dragon-yoi."

"Dad?" Luffy tilted his head.

"That's right. Dragon is your dad," Sabo ruffled the boy's hair.

"After all this time, I'm surprised he even remembers you," Ace huffed with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

"Dragon is a busy man-yoi, always on the run from the government and all that. Garp must have told him where you boys are. He must have been very worried for you if he sent you a sheet this big-yoi. Normally, you would tear these into smaller pieces and give it away," Marco grinned. Luffy held the paper close to him with a large smile.

"Keep that safe and make sure not to tell anyone you have it. Dragon's wanted by the Government, and he has a lot of enemies. Why don't you go put that somewhere safe? I'll take over until you get back-yoi," Marco shooed them off the nest.

-*/-*/-*/

They were docked at an island full of large trees and other greenery a few months later, just days after they restocked the ship. The boys thought it was strange that they would dock at another island so quickly but didn't say anything about it. Ace and Sabo had their hands full with trying to get Luffy to calm down. They'd never hit landfall so soon before, but this could be normal for all they knew. The boy was too excited about going out and playing in the jungle.

"You boys can go have fun. This place is uninhabited, so it should be safe. Just remember to not go too far from the shore," Whitebeard said as everyone else brought things off the ship and started setting them up on the beach.

"Yay!" Luffy cheered as he took off into the jungle with his brothers chasing after him. They laughed as they swung from branch to branch, making as much noise as they wanted. Once they were tired, they laid on the ground, staring at the blue skies that peeked through the trees. "I wish I was a bird," Luffy said as one flew overhead.

"Why?" Ace rolled his head to the side to look at Luffy's wistful face.

"Birds are free. They can fly and go anywhere."

"Maybe you can ask Marco to take you flying one day," Sabo suggested. "Must be awesome to be able to fly."

Luffy got up excitedly. "Let's go ask him now."

"He's busy, Luffy," Ace said. "You can ask him when we're back at sea, and he has nothing better to do."

"Aww, but he's always busy," Luffy pouted.

"That's because he's the First Division Commander. As the captain's right-hand man, he has a lot of responsibilities," Sabo explained. "But I'm sure he'd make time for you. What's wrong?" he asked when he saw Luffy look towards their right in confusion.

"There's people here. Ten of them that way," Luffy pointed.

"Old man did let us go off on our own," Ace said thoughtfully, "so they shouldn't be dangerous. I'm sure he'd know if there were dangerous people here."

"He also said the island is uninhabited and to not go too far from the shore, which we're already pretty far from," Sabo gave Ace a glare.

"I wanna go see," Luffy said, still pointing.

"Why? What if they're bad people? No one's supposed to be on this island," Sabo said worriedly.

Luffy tilted and hummed in thought before answering, "Just because?"

"Fine," Sabo sighed. "But we're going to have to be quiet just in case."

Luffy nodded and led them to where he felt the presences. Luffy finally stopped at the edge of a clearing and pointed at all the men who were asleep. There was a mess of empty plates and mugs and the stench of alcohol in the air.

"They must have partied all night," Ace whispered. "Hey, look." He pointed to a treasure chest.

All three snickered quietly to themselves. They snuck past the sleeping men and stole the treasure chest. Ace stopped just before they entered the jungle and lightly shook the box. "You guys? I don't think there's any treasure in here. It's too light, and look, there's no lock." He opened it up to find two strange looking fruits.

"Dessert?" Luffy drooled. "I'm hungry."

"Now that you mention it, I am too," Sabo said.

"I guess a snack wouldn't hurt. Hold on," Ace quietly ran back to grab a knife he saw stabbed into a tree trunk. Once he came back, he cut the orange one in half and handed a piece to Sabo. "Here, Luffy, you can have this one," he gave his brother the purple fruit whole.

"You sure we should stay here?" Sabo looked at the sleeping men.

"They're drunk off their ass. I don't think they'll be up anytime soon," Ace said as he brought his half of the fruit up and took a bite. Sabo followed suit. They both nearly spat it back up but forced themselves to swallow it.

"That was disgusting," Sabo eyed the rest of his fruit warily.

Luffy looked disappointed. "But Thatch says not to waste food," he said with a look of determination and swallowed his fruit whole. Ace and Sabo nodded in agreement and did the same with their fruit. They looked at each other with tears in their eyes, looking like they were ready to puke.

"Why would they put something that disgusting in a treasure chest?" Ace coughed.

"What are you boys doing out here?" someone asked from behind them.

"Wishing we not eat dessert," Luffy said, trying not to gag. "But we don't waste food."

"Dessert?" the man's eyes widened when he saw the empty treasure box. "DID YOU EAT THE FRUITS IN THAT BOX?!" The disgusting taste was quickly forgotten as they finally realized one of the men had woken up and caught them eating their treasure.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT WAS?!" the man continued to yell at them. He then picked Luffy up by the legs, shaking him up and down. "SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT OUT RIGHT NOW!"

"LET GO OF LUFFY!" both of his brothers yelled at the man. The man's eyes widened at the flames sprouting from both of the boys' shoulders.

"I think 'm gonna be sick," Luffy complained with his hands over his mouth. Then he face-planted onto the ground while his legs were still high up in his captor's hands. "Wha…what happened?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

"I. Said. Let. Him. GO!" Ace yelled, before unleashing the most underhanded attack that he'd perfected after his many short years of fighting Goa thugs. It didn't take long for the man to let go of Luffy's legs, and they both dropped to the ground. Luffy watched as the red-haired man curled up on his side and grabbed his groin in pain.

"Luffy," Sabo pointed to the man, "that's how you take down someone bigger and stronger than you. You attack their family jewels. The harder you hit it, the harder they fall."

"What's going on here-yoi?"

"Marco!" Luffy cheered at the voice.

"Marco! That guy tried to hurt Luffy!" Ace and Sabo pointed to the man.

Marco looked at the state the boys were in with narrowed eyes. Luffy seemed fine. Then there was Ace and Sabo, both of them on fire, but it didn't seem to bother them. More like they didn't seem to notice the fire. If it wasn't bothering them, he'd just ignore it for now. Maybe he'd get answers from the man withering on the ground.

"Congratulations, boys. You've taken down one of the Four Emperors-yoi. Well, Akagami? Care to explain-yoi?" he asked calmly. Akagami whimpered before slowly shifting himself to look at Marco. Seeing the man move, Luffy ran over to hide behind Marco's leg.

"Marco," the man grunted, "those boys are evil." There was a pause as he collected as much of the dignity he had left and sat up. "Man, it's too early for this. And that was dirty!" He pointed his finger at Ace, who grinned with his arms crossed.

"It's a little past noon-yoi," Marco deadpanned. "Your damn fault for partying like idiots every chance you get. So?"

"Your kids stole and ate two of our Devil's Fruits, the reason for the party last night, or was it the night before? Whatever," he waved his hands as if the reason were no longer important.

"Boys?" Marco turned to give the boys a stern look.

Ace and Sabo looked to the ground, the fire gone. Luffy looked at Marco as if he didn't understand what was wrong. Sabo finally answered, breaking under Marco's look.

"There was a treasure chest right there, and we couldn't help it," Sabo explained sheepishly. "But there was no treasure, just two disgusting fruits. We were hungry, so we ate them."

"Two?" Marco raised an eyebrow. "And the three of you ate them-yoi?"

"Me and Sabo split one, and Luffy ate the other one," Ace mumbled.

Marco sighed in frustration. "This has got to be the first time that has ever happened. Which fruits were they-yoi?"

"Gomu Gomu no Mi and Mera Mera no Mi," Akagami sighed as he flopped onto his back to the ground.

"Your fault for leaving it out in the open like that, you drunk-yoi," Marco kicked the man's leg.

"Yeah, whatever. No one here wanted to eat them anyway. Was going to sell them. No biggy," the man rolled onto his side to mope.

"So we're not in trouble?" Sabo asked hopefully.

"You guys are still in trouble. You were told to not go too far from the shore-yoi, and here you are stealing another pirate's treasures." He smacked each of the boys' heads, causing Ace and Sabo to flame up and Luffy's head to bounce back and forth.

"That hurt!" Luffy whined, clutching his head, before confusion filled his eyes. "No, it don't."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other and pointed while yelling, "You're on fire!"

"Right. You two ate the Mera Mera no Mi, you both are the embodiment of fire-yoi. Never before has there been two people with the same fruit powers. Good job-yoi," Marco smirked at them, causing a shiver to go down their backs. Now what have they gotten themselves into? "And you," Marco bent over to pull on Luffy's cheek, "Gomu Gomu no Mi. You're a rubber man. This should be interesting-yoi. Too bad you boys won't be able to swim anymore."

"Aww," they all moaned.

"By the way, Akagami, Pops sent me to invite you to a party-yoi. You should come and join us. The more the merrier. Let's go boys. You need to get cleaned up before we can start the party-yoi." They left without waiting for an answer.

"Who's that? Seems like you know him," Sabo said as they walked.

"Akagami Shanks, one of the Four Emperors like Pops-yoi. He's the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. He and his crew are on good terms with the Whitebeard Pirates. He's very laid back and very annoying-yoi, but he's also very strong."

"So, about this Devil Fruit…" Ace said as he found himself aflame again, shaking his hand in hopes of putting out the fire, "how do we turn it off?"

"Every Fruit is different-yoi. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. Sometimes when you eat the fruit, you just know what to do with it, but you'll have to practice in order to use it to its full potential-yoi."

Once they reached the shore, the boys looked on in excitement at the large amount of food being prepared. Marco stopped them from running off and marched them towards Whitebeard. "Akagami's been invited like you asked. I'm sure he'll be joining us-yoi. I'm going to help these kids clean up. They stole Akagami's Devil Fruits, just making sure they don't accidentally drown in the tub-yoi," he explained.

Whitebeard laughed at that. "That's my boys. Stealing from pirates on their own already."

Ace and Sabo grinned at the man, feeling proud of themselves. "You're lucky it was Akagami and not any other pirates," Marco said. "Come on-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

"Marco!" Thatch called out from the hallway. Whitebeard had sent him to see what was taking Marco and the kids so long.

"In the bath," was the muffled reply.

Thatch opened the door to the bath area, only to double over in laughter at the scene. Ace was scrubbing Sabo's back, while Marco scrubbed Ace's. What had the Fourth Division laughing was, Marco drenched with his clothes on and sitting on Luffy, who was cocooned in a towel, squirming to get out.

"Good you're here-yoi," Marco said tiredly, as he grabbed the Luffy-cocoon and tossed him at Thatch. "You deal with him."

"What happened?" Thatch asked as he caught the boy. He kept one hand on the boy's head to keep him from running and picked up a dress that filled him with pride. It was just a simple blue dress, one that they had gotten from Fishman Island, but on the front was a huge Whitebeard symbol that was hard to miss.

"Three new fruit users-yoi. One idiot," Marco gave a pointed glare at Luffy, as he continued to wash Ace's back, "jumped in the tub after I told him he couldn't use it. Nearly drowned-yoi. Then two more idiots jumped in to save him. The tub is small enough that they could splash around but still deep enough for them to drown in-yoi."

"So you got drenched while trying to save them from drowning in the tub. Nice," Thatch laughed. "You picked this?" he held out Luffy's clothes.

"Today's a day to celebrate, right? What better way than to show it off-yoi?" Marco grinned. "Picked these guys' clothes too," he pointed to the other piles of clothes. Thatch picked up the shirts and admired the large Whitebeard's symbol also on them.

"Come on, pipsqueak. Let's go to the beach, and you can tell us how you boys got fruit abilities, while we wait for your brothers."

"Make sure there are plenty barrels of water too-yoi!" Marco shouted through the door.

"Do I want to know why?" Thatch asked Luffy, who held his hand as they walked down the plank.

"Ace and Sabo on fire," Luffy giggled.

"Is that so?" Thatch grinned.

Once they reached the beach, many of the other crew members ran over and cheered about the boys' new ability and asked multiple questions all at once. Someone overheard Marco telling Whitebeard about it, and it spread from there. But the sound of a voice many of them recognized had them all turn their heads to look at the owner of the voice.

"Now, this is a party! What are we celebrating?" the red-haired captain cheered as he and his crew walked out of the forest.

"We steal his dessert!" Luffy pointed. "It was yucky. Thatch's dessert better." The boy crossed his arms cutely. "We ate it all because we don't waste food." He nodded his head sagely.

Thatch picked the boy up in a hug. "Aww, thanks little bro. I bet it did taste nasty. I remember Vista complaining about it for days after he ate his." Marco and the other two boys had joined them by then.

"Men!" Shanks said to his crew. "These are the kids that stole our fruits!" He pointed to the kids in question. Instead of a fight or yells Ace and Sabo were expecting, they all laughed.

"I can't believe we were robbed by kids."

"They got us good!"

"I told you that one of us shouldn't have been drinking and should have been on lookout."

"You should have volunteered then."

"No way. I like drinking too much."

"They're really not mad at us?" Ace looked at them in wonder.

"Like I said," Marco shook his head, "Akagami is very laid back and an idiot-yoi."

"Now that everyone is here," Whitebeard said, twinkling eyes on his men.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRATS!" All of Whitebeard's men yelled.

The kids looked confused. "But it's not any of our birthdays," Sabo said, his voice drowned by the party making.

"No, but it's been exactly one year since you've joined-yoi," Marco said beside them. "It's like being reborn-yoi, right? That's why we're celebrating this day, rather than your real birthdays."

"Yeah," Ace said softly with a smile, "it is like we were reborn."

"Like a new lease on life?" Sabo grinned.

-*/-*/-*/

"What's with the kids, Whitebeard?" Shanks asked in concern as the party got started. "Didn't think you'd let some kids on your ship. Isn't that dangerous?"

"It's even more dangerous to leave them at some random island," Whitebeard took a swig from his mug. "Don't worry. Those kids are able to hold up on their own."

"I believe it. I didn't even sense their presence until they'd already eaten the fruits," Shanks rubbed his head in shame. "But still, Emperor or not, I think it's too dangerous for kids that young to be sailing on a pirate ship, especially one that practically lives in New World."

Whitebeard laughed. "The taste from the fruit must have startled them. They were raised to hunt at a young age. I'm not surprised they know how to hide their presence." They both look over at the commotion just to their right to see Ace and Sabo drenched.

"Sorry," they both said dejectedly. There was no question as to what had happened if the scorch marks and burned food around them meant anything.

They all laughed at the boys. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon," a Whitebeard Pirate said. Luffy, who had been grabbed by Marco to keep him from being burnt, laughed the hardest.

"Those boys have been through so much. It's good to see them laugh," Whitebeard said softly with a warm smile.

"Is that so?" Shanks hummed thoughtfully, eyeing the cheerful little girl in Marco's arms. "Cute kids. I like them."

"Why don't you get to know them better?" Whitebeard suggested.

"I think I will." Shanks got up to walk over to where Marco and the kids sat off to the side, just a little away from the rest of the group but still close enough for them to converse with everyone. Marco said it was so Ace and Sabo doesn't accidentally burn anyone. Shanks sat himself down right in front of the kids' large plate of food, next to Ace and Luffy, who was now sitting on Marco's lap. "Hey, kids!"

Ace and Sabo stopped their fight over a piece of meat and looked at the man. Once they realized who it was, both of them sprouted flames from their shoulders to the top of their heads.

"Whoa, calm down," Shanks held both hands up in surrender.

"Sorry," they both mumbled, while Marco shook his head, and Luffy laughed.

"We're still getting used to this," Sabo said as he gave up the meat to Ace and grabbed another to eat.

"Thatch already yelled at us about wasting his food," Ace waved his hand at the pile of soggy, burnt, inedible food, off to the side.

"You're still on fire-yoi," Marco pointed out.

"Then tell us how to shut it off!" Ace growled in frustration at the man. "You're fire too, aren't you?"

"I'm a phoenix-yoi. I don't go around burning things like you can," he let one of his fingers turn into blue/gold flames and poked Luffy. "See?" Upon seeing Luffy being poked by the flame, they both accidentally burned the plate of food in front of them.

"Aww, I'm still eating," Luffy whined, as the boys got drenched once again with a bucket of water.

"Stop wasting food!" Thatch yelled over the laughing man who put out the fire.

"We just took a bath too," Sabo complained.

"You boys take too many baths as is," laughed one of the crew members in charge of putting out random fires.

"You try going without a bath for five years," Ace grumbled soft enough that only Sabo and Marco heard.

Marco scrunched is face in disgust at that. "The water's clean-yoi. You could probably dry yourself off somehow. Try thinking warm thoughts. Warm, not hot-yoi," he warned them.

Ace and Sabo closed their eyes and concentrated and opened them back up when they felt their clothes were dry enough. "We did it!" they cheered as their plate was replaced with another.

"That's nice," Thatch smiled, but then said teasingly, "try not to overcook the food anymore." He then walked away to join the rest of the cooks in preparing more food.

"It's not like we do it on purpose," Ace sighed tiredly as he turned his piece of meat over, inspecting it before taking a bite.

"We can stay on this island as long as it takes for you boys to get the hang of it. I'm sure no one wants you to accidentally burn the ship down-yoi," Marco said. "Pops won't mind. We're in no hurry to get anywhere-yoi. At least we don't have to worry about Luffy causing the ship any damage." They watched as Luffy reached over, with his arms stretched longer than they should be, to grab more food to stuff his face. The boys made a face at the stretched out arms.

"That's really disturbing," they both shuddered.

Shanks laughed and brought their attention back to him. "This is great. That's your punishment for stealing from me." He held his hands back up when the Ace and Sabo glared at him. "Careful there. You just might make Thatch mad. Besides, I heard today's both of your birthdays. Lighten up. So you boys are twins?"

"Huh?" the two older boys to gave the man a confused look. "We're not twins."

"You're brothers, aren't you? You sure act like twins," the man grinned.

"You do act like twins. You both say the same things and even act the same-yoi," Marco agreed.

"We're brothers, but we're not twins," Sabo shrugged. "We don't even look the same."

"Oh? How old are you boys then?" Shanks asked.

"Eleven," they both answered, earning a confused look from the red-haired captain.

"Okay…I'm confused."

"Luffy's eight. It's his birthday too," Ace pointed to Luffy.

"His? Don't you mean her?"

"Luffy's a boy," Marco grinned, as the rest of the men around them laughed. They were clearly enjoying how confused the man was getting.

"Okay. Wait. Let me get this straight. You two are not twins, but you're both eleven, and you're brothers. And that kid, there, wearing what's clearly a dress, is a boy? AND it's his birthday too?"

The two older boys nodded, and both told him, "And he's our brother."

Shanks dropped his head onto his hand. "I'm not even drunk yet, and I have a headache. Marco, what the hell have you been doing? First of all, why is one of your kids, a boy, wearing a dress?"

"Ace and Sabo said to let him wear what he wants-yoi."

"And why are you letting them tell you how to dress him?" Seriously, he needed more beer. He did just that and refilled his mug.

"They're raising him," Marco said as if stating a well-known fact.

Shanks's mug froze before making it to his mouth. "What? You're letting kids raise a kid? What the hell kind of parent are you? I know you're a pirate and all, but, I mean, have you not heard of moderation? Hell, how many mothers do they have?" This caused all the nearby Whitebeard Pirates to roar in laughter. Some even told the ones further away what was so funny.

Marco scowled. "What makes you think these are mine-yoi? I was put in charge of watching over them."

"Marco," Luffy turned his head in an odd angle so that he could look at the man he's sitting on, "I wanna know what's funny."

"This idiot thinks I'm your, Ace's, and Sabo's dad-yoi," he deadpanned.

"But I already have one."

Marco patted the boy's head. "You do. This man is stupid. Anyway, how the hell did you come up with that-yoi? They don't even look anything like me."

Shanks waved his free hand this way and that, trying to get his mouth to work. "Well, you know, maybe they look like their moms, you know. You could have shacked up with two women at the same time, and these boys were born at the same time, and then another woman later and had that one!"

Even Whitebeard had to laugh at the image of his straight-laced son with that many women at the same time.

"What? You're old enough to have a few kids," Shanks defended himself from the evil glare Marco was giving him.

"Ace, Sabo, you have my permission to test your new powers on him."

"Wait! Wait!" Shanks quickly held up his hands at the boys' twin look promising oncoming pain. "I'm sorry! I won't even mention it again!"

"Fine," Marco said as the boys backed down, looking disappointed that they'd lost a practice dummy.

"You know," Haruta grinned, "Marco would make a great father. You guys should have seen how he handled little Luffy after his tantrum on Fishman Island."

Vista nodded in agreement and mimicked what Marco did for everyone else, which caused everyone else to coo at the image.

"They're right you know," Sabo said thoughtfully, "you would make a great dad. I wouldn't mind calling you Oyaji. You're a much better parent than mine were."

"I wouldn't mind either," Ace mumbled as he blushed, looking down at his legs. In a clearer voice he said, "And you're good with Luffy and know a lot of things and help us a lot."

"Pops!" Luffy turned around on Marco's lap to give the man a greasy hug.

"Hey," Marco deadpanned, "Whitebeard is our Pops, not me-yoi."

"Grandpops!"

"Hmm. That doesn't sound too bad," Whitebeard smiled at Luffy's new title for him. He has many sons and daughters, and now he has grandsons to add to his growing family.

"Ugh. Pops, don't encourage them-yoi," Marco moaned and buried his face in Luffy's hair, mostly to cover his blush.

"How did you boys get the same Devil Fruit powers anyway?" someone asked. "I thought there could only one user per lifetime or something like that?"

"We both ate it," Ace answered.

"That still doesn't explain much-yoi," Marco said. "I'm pretty sure the Marines have done many tests on Devil Fruits and never have there ever been any two people with the same powers."

Both Ace and Sabo shrugged. "No idea. We just ate it."

Then Luffy suddenly turned to Whitebeard. "Grandpops! Grandpops! Guess what?!" He said as he waved his hands in excitement. "Ace is super strong! He beat that guy up!"

"Oh?" Whitebeard's eyes widened in surprise. "You managed to defeat an Emperor?"

"He cheated!" Shanks said as his face turned red in embarrassment. "That was dirty and underhanded!"

"Apparently, Ace headbutted Akagami's family jewels-yoi." There was a roar of laughter with the Red-Haired Pirates being the loudest.

"So, Luffy was it?" Shanks decided it was time for a topic change. Luffy looked up at Shanks in open curiosity. "Why are you wearing a dress?"

"You're stuck on the whole dress thing, aren't you?" Sabo glared.

Luffy jumped from Marco's lap and twirled around. "Because it's pretty!" The boy said, not at all deterred by the fact that he's a boy. "You like? Marco picked it because today special."

Marco sighed, "Just so you know, Izo had nothing to do with this-yoi."

"Oh?"

"He's still wearing pants under it," Ace pulled Luffy's dress up so they could see his shorts. "It's not like he thinks he's a girl or anything. He just happens to like dresses."

"He's really picky," Sabo nodded. "He likes them with a little bit of frills but mostly plain. You should have seen the showdown between him and Gramps. Luffy saw a dress he liked, actually that was the first time we found out he liked dresses. Anyway, Luffy saw a dress he liked in a window and asked Gramps to buy it for him. We thought Gramps was going to get mad at him for wanting a dress, but instead, Gramps yelled at him that this other much frillier dress was cuter. We ended up stealing Gramps wallet and buying the dress just to get them to stop arguing."

"Geez, I knew the man was nuts but to seriously argue with his grandson over which dress is cuter?" Thatch laughed as he joined them.

Three large cakes were brought out as a round of 'Happy Birthday' was sung. The boys' eyes went wide in surprise. The cakes were just as tall as Thatch. "CAKE!" All three shouted and jumped up to go to the cakes.

"You three only get one of those cakes. Leave the rest for us," Thatch yelled at them as they ran to blow out the candles.

"Those boys sure do eat a lot," Shanks eyed the empty plates.

"Yup. They're the reason we have to land and restock so often," Thatch laughed.

"No wonder. Garp was saying the marines were getting wary since you guys seem to be keeping a closer eye on the islands. Speaking of which, the old marine seemed to be happier than usual during his last visit."

"Yeah," Marco leaned back on his hands with a lazy smile. "He found out his grandsons were alive and safe. Of course, he's happy-yoi."

"Grandsons, huh?" Shanks looked to the kids with a smile. "Good for him. So…is it just me or is that kid a little slow?"

"What do you mean?" Thatch asked as he watched the boys dig into their own cake, not even bothering to bring the cake back to the rest of them.

"He's eight, right? Isn't he a bit small for his age? And his speech is a little low for his age. He sounds like he has trouble forming words, like he's tripping on his own tongue or something," the captain mused. "Not that I know anything about kids or anything. I could be wrong."

"Oh, he doesn't trip over his tongue. He trips over rocks, his own feet, and sometimes nothing," Jozu laughed. As if on cue, Luffy stood up to get a piece of the cake from the top layer, only to fall face first into the whole cake, causing everyone there to roar in laughter.

"It's not like we're not doing anything to help the boys-yoi," Marco said. "The kid's speech is improving. He used to only speak one or two words at a time-yoi."

"The brat was brought up in an environment where he wasn't allowed regular conversation," Whitebeard said as he took a seat by them with his own huge slice of cake. "He only had those two brothers of his. Even then, the time they had to themselves were minimal."

"Yeah. Kobato and I plan their meals to give them the maximum nutrition," Thatch said. The thought of those three boys being brought up in such a condition where they could barely talk to each other, brought a bad taste to Shanks's mouth. He had to get another refill of alcohol just wash it down.

Ace and Sabo dragged a giggling Luffy back to the group. Their cake was now a lost cause after the two older boys burned it in their attempt to save Luffy from suffocating on the cake.

"Wonder what his first words were," Shanks said out of nowhere.

"Who's?" Ace and Sabo asked.

"Luffy's."

"Ass," Ace scowled, as Sabo laughed.

"No, it wasn't. He was trying to say 'Ace.' It just came out sounding like 'ass.'"

"Oh?" Marco grinned. "I'm assuming 'Sabo' was his second word-yoi?"

"No, it was 'Poo,'" Ace deadpanned. "He said both of those words on the same day."

"It was 'Bo,'" Sabo insisted.

The crews laughed at that, while Thatch and Haruta were rolling in the sand, trying to catch their breath.

"I still think he was trying to tell us he wanted to take a dump," Ace scowled.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** And there you have it. Shanks and Devil Fruits. ^_^V

I got the idea for putting the Whitebeard symbols on their clothes from another story. I can't remember which one it was. I couldn't find it again. T_T

I posted this while feeling unsure. I think I missed something again. ~_~


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 _The best index to a person's character  
is how he treats people who can't  
do him any good, and how he  
treats people who can't fight back._

 _\- Abigail Van Buren_

The party went on through the rest of the day. Shanks liked how the Whitebeard Pirates enjoyed to party as much his crew did.

The boys had taken a short nap earlier (only because Ace fell asleep first) and were up and about causing trouble again. Shanks really did find them amusing. When the kids decided to take a break from running around, he took a seat next to them on the beach.

"You boys want to hear some stories?"

"Story? What kind? You tell us about your adventure?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Sure, or I can tell you some stories about the Pirate King," Shanks grinned, knowing most kids enjoy those stories.

"Pirate King?" Luffy tilted his head. He's never heard of this before.

"What? You've never heard of the Pirate King?" Shanks faked a shocked expression that wasn't entirely fake. Somewhere deep down, he knew the kid probably doesn't know much about the world and how it works. "I use to be his cabin boy. Gol D. Roger is a man I admire, and the only captain I'd sail under. We had so many adventures."

"Gol D. Roger?" Luffy's head tilted even further, trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar but couldn't place it.

"Whitebeard told us some stories about him, Luffy," Sabo said, distracting the boy from remembering or blurting out that Gol D. Roger was Ace's dad.

"I," Ace hesitated, "I'd like to hear about his adventures. If you don't mind?" After finding out that the man he hated for so long actually wasn't a bad person, he'd secretly waited for Whitebeard's stories of the Pirate King.

Whitebeard watched them fondly as Shanks told them stories after stories about the late Pirate King. He could see the excitement on Ace's face, enjoying the stories as much as his brothers. It was a good thing that Akagami had met the boys. Ace can, at least now, know more about his father from someone who knew the man. There were only so much he could tell on his side. Of course, he came to this island specifically because he knew Shanks would be here.

Eventually some of the older Whitebeard crew members, who had been with him since Roger's time, joined them and added their own stories. The stories continued through dinner.

Luffy vibrated with excitement towards the end of the party and suddenly stood up. "I gots it! I'm gonna be next Pirate King!" He declared.

Everyone burst out laughing at the boy.

Shanks only gave the boy a look as if he was just another boy with a big dream. "And why is that, short stuff?"

"Because," Luffy gave the man a look as if he were stupid, "Pirates is free. That mean Pirate King is more freer person in the world!" He threw his hands out to show the world.

"You tell him, kid!" someone shouted.

Understanding dawned on him once he remembered what he had heard about Garps grandchildren, and for some unknown reason, Shanks felt that the kid could possibly do it.

Even Whitebeard was impressed with the boy's determination. It may be a child's dream, but he knew better. He understood what it is the boy wanted, just as he's sure Shanks does also. He's sure his family wouldn't mind supporting the child's big dream of being the freest man in the world. It wasn't like he was after One Piece anyway. He's happy where he is with his family. He's already living his dream. Even better, he's got himself grandchildren!

-*/-*/-*/

About a week after the birthday party, Thatch was sent out on a mission with a few of his men from his Division to an island not too far away. Some idiot pirate crew decided to cause some problems in one of Whitebeard's territory. It didn't take long for Thatch to return.

"I'm back!" he called out once his tiny crew of eight pulled their smaller boat back to shore.

Ace and Sabo ran up to him to greet the man. Thatch looked around before asking where their youngest went when he heard the boy call out his name from the deck of Moby Dick.

Luffy held onto the rail as he walked back a few steps and launched himself. Ace and Sabo yelled at him as they scrambled around to catch their brother when he landed. The three of them ended up tumbling in the sand.

Thatch laughed at the boys. "I see you've thought of a new move, Luffy."

"Yeah, but he needs to work on his landing," the two older boys groaned under their giggling brother.

"Thatch!" Luffy got up to tackle the older man.

"I missed you too, kid," he ruffled the boy's hair.

"You're back sooner than we thought," Marco said as he walked up to them.

"Three days there, three days back, and one day to get rid of the nuisance. Pathetic. Not sure where they got the crazy idea to try and take over Pop's island. Oh yeah! Look what I got from them." Thatch reached into his bag and brought out a small box and opened it up to show them.

"A Devil's Fruit? We seem to be running into a lot of those lately-yoi," Marco looked at the boys with a raised eyebrow. The two older boys flushed in embarrassment while the other one asked Thatch if he was going to eat it.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to think about it and research what fruit it is first. I'm going to report to Pops now." Thatch left to find their captain.

Late that night, while most of the two pirate crews were asleep, Luffy woke up and looked around to see what had woken him. He crawled out from under Marco's arm, the man wouldn't let him sleep with his brother just in case they went up in flames in their sleep. Again. He dusted some sand out of his shorts and looked again. Still not seeing anything, he went on Moby Dick to take a look around and maybe use the toilet.

He walked to Thatch's room when he saw the light still on. He'd barely gotten a foot in, when he was carelessly pulled off his feet, but he did see Thatch on the floor with a knife buried deep in his back.

"THATCH!" Luffy yelled out, not even noticing he was being taken him out of the room. Luffy continued to yell out to Thatch even as they made it across the deck and down to the same boat the fourth commander had returned in.

"Zhehahaha. Good timing, kid," Luffy went still at the voice. It's a voice he knew. It was the voice of someone he played with often, but it sounded different.

"Teach?" Luffy whimpered. "We have to go back. Thatch is hurt!"

"Luffy, my boy, we are not going back, and Thatch is dead." The man laughed some more. "I finally have the Devil Fruit I've been waiting forever to find. It's now mine, and you are going to help me escape this place." Teach used the rope that tied the small boat to Moby Dick and tied Luffy up so he could free his hands to row the boat. There wasn't enough wind at the moment to help him get away quick enough.

Luffy was too shocked to do much. Teach was part of Whitebeard's crew. He was one of their brothers. The boy didn't understand what was happening. How could Teach leave his brother to bleed out? But he knew, he could feel it. A feeling that he never felt before from his so-called brother: Greed, and nothing but greed.

Once the shock wore off, Luffy thrashed about to do anything to get away or to get revenge, anything, but he was tied up and had no weapons. He knew he was useless.

Luffy's yell had woken up most of the sleeping pirates. Many of them, Marco included, ran to Thatch's room, the only place in their vicinity with lights still on, to see what was going on.

"A doctor!" Marco yelled, practically demanded, to the surrounding crew members. "We need a doctor right now!"

Everyone ran around in panic, wanting to know what happened.

Ace and Sabo couldn't find Luffy in Thatch's room once almost everyone cleared out to grab one of their many doctors. They were sure it was their youngest that had done all that yelling.

Then they heard the boy's struggles and ran to where the noise came from. They looked over the side of the ship and saw a smaller ship sailing away, and they were sure their brother was on it. "Luffy!" they cry out.

Luckily, Shanks had heard and saw Luffy being taken before anyone else and jumped overboard his own ship, where he had slept. He got there just in time as the boy was being thrown overboard to distract a sea king that was headed their way.

The red-haired captain grabbed the boy just as the sea king's mouth closed, just barely missing them. It resurfaced to reclaim its meal, and Shanks gave it a glare, sending it away with a blast of Haki. "Get lost," he growled.

The man then sluggishly kicked his legs towards a row boat coming their way. Once Ben reached them, he dragged them both into the boat. Ben's eyes widened when he saw the state his captain and Luffy were in. They were both drenched in sea water and blood, with Luffy clinging onto his captain and crying. What really caught his eyes was the fact that Shanks was missing an arm. The first mate quickly rowed back to shore.

"We need a doctor here!" Ben yelled out, urgency clear in his voice, before they even reach the shore.

More pirates came running to help the man pull the boat up the beach, and two doctors helped carry Shanks and Luffy off the boat. Once they had Shanks on the beach, the doctors quickly worked on the man to stop the bleeding long enough for the captain to be carried into the infirmary, where they can do proper work.

Izo had to be called over to help get Luffy off of the red-haired captain. Kobato couldn't stand the sight of blood and passed out from seeing so much of it on the two. In order to get Ace and Sabo to stop fretting over their brother, the head doctor pushed them away from the gruesome scene and had them watch over Kobato for him. It took a few tries to get the kid to let go so the older pirate could be taken care of. As soon as he got Luffy off, Izo stripped the boy out of his bloodied clothes to find no wound on the boy.

Feeling relieved that he didn't see any visible wound, he was finally able to hand him off to Kobato, who finally woke up, so he could take charge in the infirmary. Kobato carried Luffy, who was still crying, a little further up the beach where Whitebeard was. "Luffy, it's okay. Everything's okay. Are you hurt anywhere?" she tried to calm the boy down. While Izo checked for visible wounds, she felt around to make sure nothing was broken or bruised.

Ace, Sabo, and a few other crew members had gathered around them. Kobato let Ace and Sabo take over her position once she was a hundred percent sure Luffy was physically fine and didn't need a trip to the infirmary, hoping they can help calm the poor boy.

The two boys sat down with Luffy sobbing over the both of them as they rubbed soothing circles on the crying boy's back.

"Th-Thatch," Luffy hiccuped as he continued crying. "Thatch. Shanks. Teach." They wait patiently as the boy continued to cry. "Teach kill Thatch. Shanks's arm gone." He said in between sobs.

Everyone there looked at each other in concern at the boy's words. Teach was one of their oldest member. They all were thinking there was no way Teach would betray them.

"Thatch is okay, Luffy," Sabo said, the two older boys didn't notice the looks the men around them had. "He's hurt, but the doctors are helping him right now."

"Shanks, too," Ace added. "Izo is helping them, so they'll both be fine."

Luffy calmed down to sniffles after hearing that his brother and friend would be okay.

"Tell us what happened," Whitebeard said softly as he took a seat in the sand with the boys.

"I woke up 'cause … I don't know. I see Thatch light on. And then Teach take me. And then Teach throw me at sea king. The sea king ate Shanks's arm!" He wailed loudly at the end at the memory of Shanks's arm being eaten.

"Why would Teach do that?" Someone asked. While another asked, "Are you sure it's Teach?"

"Te-Teach said wanted Thatch's fruit," Luffy wailed with his face pressed against Sabo's chest.

Whitebeard sighed and tiredly commanded, "Someone get a head count. Check if anyone is missing. We'll discuss this more in the morning."

As the night went on, Sabo slowly leaned into Whitebeard as he fell asleep with Luffy in his arms. Ace had already fallen sleep on Sabo's other side. Kobato had her head on Whitebeard's lap next to Ace. Marco walked up to them with a few blankets to lay out and cover the four of them. He carefully picked up Luffy, now wearing one of Kobato's sweater, to move him over to Kobato's side and sighed as he gave his report to his father figure.

"Teach is the only one missing. I just don't understand-yoi. He's been with us for so long. I can't believe he'd betray us like that-yoi." He spoke softly as to not wake the kids and Kobato.

Whitebeard only sighed sadly as he looked up to the predawn sky. He was heartbroken that someone he'd considered to be his son to betray him.

"Should we go after him-yoi?"

"No," Whitebeard said after a pause. "Leave him be. It's dark, and he's probably long gone. Thatch and Akagami are our first priority."

"I'm actually surprised that Luffy wasn't able to escape before Teach took him," Marco smoothed the sleeping boy's hair.

"He was probably just as surprised as we are that it was one of our own that attacked Thatch and was caught off guard, or he's stronger than we all think. Something doesn't feel right about all this."

-*/-*/-*/

Shanks was the first to be let out of the infirmary, just a few days later. Luffy wouldn't leave him alone and tagged along everywhere he went.

As soon as he was sure Thatch would live, Shanks was ready to leave the island and resume his sailing, letting his own doctor to finish the healing process. "It's time for us to go. We've been here too long as it is, and I'm sure the world's wondering what we've been up to." He gave the kids a wink. "Tell Thatch when he wakes up that he better be in tiptop shape the next time we meet."

Luffy once again cried, not wanting his new friend to leave.

Akagami gave him a considering look. He took off his straw hat and looked at it before placing it firmly on the boy's head. The former cabin-boy of the Pirate King would love to see what the future held for this child.

"Don't cry, kid. It's not like we won't see each other again. How about this. You give me my hat back when you've achieved your goal. You want to be the Pirate King, right? In order to be the Pirate King, you have to be strong. This hat is very important to me, so you better return it in good condition."

Luffy tilted his head back so he could see the man from the too large hat and gave him a look of wonder before he grinned through his tears. "Okay! I'm gonna get strong enough to beat you."

"I'll be sure to visit when I can. All right?" Luffy nodded as he sniffled and wiped his eyes. "Make sure to get stronger the next time I see you."

Marco grinned and shook his head at those words. If only the other captain knew what the kid was capable of.

Once everyone from the Red Hair Pirates left, Marco bent down to give something to Luffy.

"This is for you-yoi," he showed the boy a holster with a small hunting knife in place. He helped the boy strap it on his right thigh. "So you can protect yourself if you ever find yourself in need of a weapon. As you are right now, you're not strong enough to defend yourself-yoi. And this one," Marco held up another holster with a small pistol, "is from Izo. It took him some time to find something he thought would be suitable for you-yoi."

Luffy nodded. "Pops, I wanna get more stronger, strong enough so I can protect everybody."

Marco placed a hand over the boy's hat. He's still uncomfortable with the new title, but the kids wouldn't stop calling him that. His captain seems to enjoy being called Grandpops, though. "You're plenty strong already-yoi."

"I know," Luffy mumbled, looked down uncomfortably, "but I don't want to be strong like that. I want to fight on my own. And even if I'm strong now, I don't know how fight somebody like Teach. I'm not strong enough."

Marco found himself in awe at how much understanding this normally oblivious boy had. Mixed with the deep serious voice the boy used that was so out of place, Marco wondered if this was the same happy-go-lucky child he's been watching over. The boy has the knowledge to understand that his strange ability of knowing how to use different fighting styles is useless if he didn't have the strength the back it up. It may have gotten him and his brothers this far, but here in New World, it isn't going to get him far enough

"I'll see what I can do help. Working with your fruit ability is a good start, though." He turned to see Ace and Sabo waiting for Luffy behind him. "I got one for you boys too." He handed them their holster with a knife. "My birthday gift to you boys."

-*/-*/-*/

The following days all three boys trained with their ability, while Ace and Sabo also had a few other training added to their schedule.

They would visit Thatch everyday, with Luffy feeling more upset with each visits. Only Ace and Sabo realized that with each day of Thatch not waking, Luffy would get more fidgety and agitated. It was by the third day of Shanks leaving that the boys decided to do something about it.

"Maybe he needs to vent or something," Sabo mused. He and Ace were practicing on handling their powers. Marco had them practicing calling forth their power to burn a few branches they gathered earlier.

"Vent?" Ace looked towards where Luffy was stretching his arms and trying to reach a tree branch with Marco supervising him.

"Yeah. He's probably frustrated that he couldn't help Thatch and got hauled away by Teach," Sabo glared at the twig in his hand and tossed it to the ground when it wouldn't catch on fire even when he's concentrating. "This is harder than I thought."

"Your hat's on fire," Ace took his stick to poke at the misplaced fire. "How are we supposed to let him vent? Attack someone? Let him go all out?"

Sabo sighed as he flopped himself on the sand and took off his hat to glare at it. The fire extinguished itself quickly when he put his hand on it. "Huh. It's not hot, and there's no burn mark." He picked up another stick to concentrate on. "Not someone. Maybe a tree? I did it!" He held up his burning branch to Ace.

Ace pouted at his brother. "That's not fair. Hey. Wait! Don't you dare poke me with that!" He took a step back when Sabo attempted to poke him with the flaming branch.

Whitebeard laughed in amusement as Sabo chased Ace. They ran about, yelling at each other, until Ace tripped and fell flat on his face, with Sabo tripping over his fallen form, accidentally stabbing his brother with the burning branch. Whitebeard immediately got up to check up on the two.

"Are you boys okay?" he asked as he helped them up.

"Oh, my god, Ace. I'm so sorry!" Sabo went to pat his brother's back where he'd stabbed him.

"I'm okay. Why?" Ace looked at his brother in confusion, then to Whitebeard.

"I thought I accidentally stabbed you," the blond sighed in relief.

Whitebeard laughed at them. "You boys are are fire. That little stick disintegrated on impact."

An evil grin was on Ace's face soon after hearing that as an idea came to mind. While Sabo's attention was on Whitebeard, Ace picked up a nearby branch and poked his brother's arm with it. "Cool," he said as the small area on Sabo's arm turned to flames, burning the branch.

The captain watched on as Sabo glared at his brother. Ace continued to push the branch into his brother's arm, watching in fascination as it just continues to burn instead of harming Sabo.

Seeing as the boys were fine, Whitebeard left them to their fun.

"So about Luffy," Sabo sighed.

"Right, Luffy," Ace said thoughtfully. "I think got it. Our powers, I mean." He went on to explain what he thought to Sabo. By nightfall, they'd both successfully had fire spouting where they wanted and when they wanted, with a few mishaps. It was perfect, but it was progress.

-*/-*/-*/

The next morning after breakfast, the two boys dragged Luffy to the nearest tree, instead of going to check on Thatch like they usually would.

"Attack that tree," Sabo said seriously.

"Why?"

"Because you look like you need to attack something," Ace said, earning a smack on the head from Sabo.

"You look like you need to vent. You shouldn't bottle up your frustration. Just let all out on this tree," Sabo patted said tree.

Luffy just looked at the tree, not really understanding what his brothers wanted him to do.

"Pretend it's Teach," Ace crossed his arms.

Luffy scowled at the tree, as he pictured it as being the traitor. He was was angry with himself for not being able to do anything when he was right there to do so. It was so similar to the time with Otohime, but this time, help came in time. Even so, he was still angry. The poor tree had no idea what it did, but it was being attacked by punches and kicks from tiny limbs.

"What'd that tree do?" asked a confused first division member.

"Pretending to be Teach," both Ace and Sabo answered. "We're letting Luffy vent."

"Sounds like a good idea-yoi." Marco looked at the man for a moment before nodding to himself. "Luffy, why don't you pretend this guy is Teach instead. Might save you from splinters."

One thing led to another and a few other crew members joined in. Some time before lunch was served, a sword was found in Luffy's hand. No one even bothered to question where the brat learned how to use a sword. They had all just assumed their commanders had taught him somewhere during the time he'd started staying with them. Even Haruta and Vista joined to spar with the kid to help him release his distress.

Marco supervised with Ace and Sabo by his side the entire time. "I'm sorry I didn't realize Luffy needed time to let off some steam sooner. He's smiling now-yoi."

"He was frustrated about the whole Teach attacking Thatch thing and that he couldn't do anything about it," Sabo sighed.

"And Shanks's arm," Ace said.

It was just before lunch that Izo called out to them from the ship, stating that Thatch was awake. Luffy stopped what he was doing and ran with his brothers to see Thatch.

The hall was crowded, but they all parted for the commanders and the kids. That was all Izo was allowing to see Thatch right now. Whitebeard was already in the room, smiling happily.

"Luffy!" Thatch called out as soon as he saw the boys, with Luffy in Marco's arm, to prevent the kid from tackling Thatch. Marco set the kid down on the bed for Thatch to hug him. "Pops told me what happened. I'm so glad you're okay."

Luffy buried his face into the man's chest and sniffled. "I thought you were dead. Teach said he killed you."

"Hey, now. Don't cry. Izo said you're the reason I'm still alive. So thank you," Thatch hugged the boy as tight as he could, though he did wince at the pressure. He then patted at an empty space on his bed for the other two boys to sit. "Why don't you brats tell me what I've missed until the meds kick in, and I fall asleep?"

It took another two weeks for Thatch to finally be able to move around without pain, and they set sail again.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Yeah...the top part was supposed to be in the last chapter. Can you tell? I knew I forgot something, but it was too late to add it in after I posted. XD

And I give up. I don't have my laptop for the next few days. It's being repaired because it's doing stupid things. Apparently FanFiction doesn't like my tablet. It kept timing out when I try to save what I've edited. Going to try again and hope it'll take this, and then I'm posting. Too frustrated to try to go back again(!) to figure out what I fixed the first two times.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 _Being optimistic really has  
nothing to do with happiness,  
it's just taking whatever  
life chucks at you and not  
_ _letting it break you down._

 _\- unknown_

With Whitebeard's new rule of having a commander with them at all times on New World's islands, the boys were usually accompanied by Marco. There were times when their Pops were too busy to go out with them, so the First Division Commander would find someone available to take them.

-*/

The first time this happened, it was Kingdew who went with the kids. One thing lead to another, and all four of them came back muddied with scrapes and bruises.

Sabo had somehow slipped into a lake. He grabbed Ace's shirt on his way down to save himself, only for the both of them to fall in. Kingdew dove in to save the two, but that left Luffy to wait on the sideline for them to come back. Of course it couldn't be that simple. A deer of all things came charging at the poor boy, causing him to run from the deadly antlers. That was what greeted Kingdew, Ace, and Sabo when they surfaced. Then they had to chase after Luffy, who was later found riding the rampaging deer, having the time of his life. Until he was bucked off and into the lake.

-*/

Then there was Rakuyo. He turned his head to look at a weapons shop window for just a second. He swore he only took a glance when Luffy disappeared. Apparently, the boy tripped and fell into a hole that was in the freaking middle of nowhere! Who the hell puts a hole that big where people walk? And how did no one fall into it yet? And of course. Ace and Sabo had to follow their little brother by somehow getting sucked into the hole too.

-*/

Haruta was slightly luckier. He was the only one of the group the come back beaten and battered that time. That was only because Luffy had dragged him, literally dragged him, into a store that had a hat he insisted Ace needs.

How did he, a grown man, get dragged by a kid that was barely half his size? Easy. The grown man first had to trip over one of the other brothers in order to fall to the ground, where it's easier for the munchkin to grab him.

Ace was very happy with the hat that was a tad too big for his head. The crew members mentioned this to him, as Haruta was being ignored in the background, and the boy scowled and claimed he'd grow into it soon.

-*/

The luckiest had to be Thatch. A drunk stumbled into Luffy, causing the boy to smashed his ice cream onto the man's shirt. The drunkard spewed profanities and threatened to kill the boy until he realized Thatch was reaching for his sword. Recognizing who was chaperoning the kid, the drunk then apologized and begged for forgiveness before running off.

That was the first time anyone came back unscathed with the boys, besides Marco. Though, Ace and Sabo were grumbling about idiots, drunks, and Luffy having too much ice cream.

-*/

The worst was when Luffy got kidnapped by a small pirate crew, who saw the large Whitebeard mark on the kid's T-shirt. They had hoped to get the kid to tell them what Whitebeard's weakness was to use against him.

Vista was so confused as to what had happened. One minute the kid was walking behind him, and the next, he was gone. There wasn't even a peep or a sound of struggle or anything. Vista was so sure that with the kid so close to him, Ace, and Sabo, one of them would know if he drifted off on his own or something. He and other two brothers searched every place they could. Giving up a couple hours later, they went back to the ship to get help.

It wasn't until almost dark that Marco, with Ace and Sabo, found the missing kid. The shack the pirates were holding up in was burnt to the ground with the enemies still in it. The sight of Luffy all bloodied, bruised, and unconscious had Vista wallowing in guilt.

Ace and Sabo had been called by Whitebeard with Marco when Luffy finally woke up. The first person he saw was Vista, who had been sitting there the whole time. The first thing the kid says to him was to apologize!

"What are you apologizing for?" Vista nearly cried. "I'm the one that should be saying sorry. I'm sorry for letting those guys take you and put you through all that. It's all my fault! I should have kept better watch on you!"

"But I wasn't fast enough to get away," Luffy teared. "He was really fast, and he made me sleep when I wasn't even tired. And Vista is sad."

Ace and Sabo came crashing in right after that, with Marco pulling them back before they could hurt Luffy anymore with their intent of a bone crushing hug. But after seeing Luffy bawling his eyes out at the sight of his brothers and claims of having thought of never seeing them again, Marco let them go with the risk of angering Kobato.

Everyone was proud of her after she drew up all her courage to fix up the child after nearly fainting from seeing him. She was determined to get over her fears for the boys. This is a pirate ship. If she's not able to pull through, who would bandage them up, she thought to herself. Sure, Izo could easily taken care of them, but adults are different than children. Luckily, Luffy had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi, causing his body to be rubber. That had saved his life. There were no broken bones to be fixed, no lasting scars, just a lot of small cuts that were easily bandaged up.

"It was scary! Ace and Sabo wasn't there when I woke up. There were only people I didn't know there!" Luffy wailed. "I don't like it. I don't like when I don't see Ace and Sabo. You weren't there with me, and it was scary!"

That was when it really hits home for Marco that Luffy doesn't remember ever being away from Ace and Sabo. They have always been in his life, never separated. They are all he's known from his very first memory until now. It doesn't matter that the boy now has so many others he could play with and is comfortable with. Ace and Sabo were here with him, and to Luffy, that was all he needs.

-*/

And now, after all fourteen commanders had babysat the boys at least once or twice during island visits, they were all congregated in the meeting room, while Marco got the kids ready for another island. They've been in there for the past ten minutes, making plans.

"I say we follow them,"Haruta suggested.

"That's not going to work," Thatch shook his head. "Marco would know."

"And Luffy," Izo added.

"Well, I don't hear any other ideas," Haruta grumbled with his arms crossed.

There was a moment of silence as they listened to the sounds of small feet running about on deck and Luffy's cheering. There was a collective sigh in the room as they realized they were running out of time if they wanted answers today.

"Fine. We follow them," Kingdew grunted. "We'll deal with getting caught when it happens."

Only Vista, Thatch, Haruta, Kingdew, and Izo had free time. Everyone else had things to do for their division before they set sail again.

"I can't believe we're acutally stalking Marco," Kingdew moaned as they stood in an alley in an attempt to hide themselves. It wasn't easy as they were a group of eye-catching men.

"I can't believe I'm going along with this," Izo huffed.

"I just want to know what Marco does with the kids," Vista rubbed the back of his head. "I don't want a repeat of last time I took them out. We need to know how Marco keeps the kids out of trouble."

"Did anyone think of asking?" Izo asked.

"Blenheim did," Haruta said. "Marco told him that he always takes the kids to do some training to tire them out before taking them sight-seeing. I heard Jiru tried that, and they all came back covered in dirt, twigs, and leaves. Luffy looked happy though."

Thatch took a quick look around the corner to see if the group of four was at a safe distance for them to continue following. The smile that appeared on his face, caused the rest of the commanders to look. They all smiled at the sight of Luffy, who was being carried under one of Marco's arm, was moving his arms and legs in an attempt to do the frog crawl in the air. Ace and Sabo were walking in front of Marco, talking to each other.

They followed, keeping their distance, and watched as Marco would stop his group in front of a few bars and walked on instead of going in. The commanders looked at each other in confusion when Marco and the boys finally went in a bar. It was just a bar. It was by far the rowdiest one in town. They could hear the merry-making from their hiding place, an alley five buildings away.

They were even more confused when Marco buttoned up his shirt, covering his tattoo. As soon as Marco and the boys went in, the group of commanders made their way to the bar's window to peek through.

/*-

Ace and Sabo ran through the crowd of gruff looking men and straight to the counter, where they usually sat when they go out with Marco. Seeing his brothers run, Luffy stretched his arms towards the bar, causing everyone there to go silent and stare. Marco, not wanting to be flung across the room with the boy, let go of Luffy.

"I win!" Luffy cheered with his arms up, just as Ace and Sabo scrabbled up the stools on either side of him.

"And you didn't hit anything this time. Good job," Sabo ruffled the boy's hair.

Marco walked up to them and picked Luffy up and let the boy sit on his lap. "Beer for me, whatever juice you have for these two, and milk for this one-yoi," he ordered, startling the bartender from his stupor.

"We don't get food?" Luffy turned his head at an odd angle and tilted it up to see Marco's face.

"Later-yoi."

"Well, what do we have here?" a big hairy man approached them and slammed his hand down next to Ace. "Don't you know you don't bring kids into a bar full of bandits?" Everyone laughed.

The bartender returned with their drinks and set them down before quickly backing away, wanting to stay out of any unwanted trouble and pain.

Marco smirked at the man, "I can bring the kids anywhere I want-yoi. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with them."

The bandit laughed. "You want _me_ to fight with your _kids_? You've got to be kidding. Or maybe you're just a wuss who can't handle a fight. Hey, guys. This girly man wants us to fight his kids. I wonder how much that little one with the Devil's Fruit would go for?"

The bar erupted in laughter. The laughter stopped suddenly when the hairy man was sent crashing into an unoccupied chair.

"Pops isn't a wuss, and you can't have Luffy!" Ace declared with his fist still in front of him. He then turned to look at Marco with a glare. "He started it, and he smells."

Marco merely shrugged and turned around, with Luffy still on his lap, to face the rest of the bandits. Ace and Sabo got off their stools to stand in front of them with their fist raised. "Same rules as usual: 1,000 beli for each furniture you burn to me, cost of damages to the owner, and if you burn the building down, Luffy sleeps with me for a month."

There was barely enough time for the two boys to nod in agreement before the bandits surged towards them, and all hell broke loose.

/*-

"What the hell is Marco thinking?!" Thatch nearly screeched.

"Sounds like he's teaching them to control their fire power," Izo mused, "and maybe extorting them."

"At least he's watching them?" Haruta tried to defend their brother as he watched Luffy, still sitting on Marco's lap, send a punch towards a man that was about to swing his sword at them. Marco did nothing to help, not even to dodge.

"Should we help?" Vista asked worriedly.

Izo shook his head and pointed at Marco, who was looking right at them, clearly not wanting them to interrupt. "I don't think Marco will be happy about that if we did. We'll jump in if it looks like we're needed, which I doubt will happen with Marco there."

"Is Luffy doing what I think he's doing?" Kingdew asked in bewilderment.

They all looked back in to see the boy stretching his arms towards various tables, taking the plates of food and putting them on the countertop.

"Well, at least Marco's looking over them and tossing the ones that don't look good away," Thatch grumbled. "What a waste of food."

Kindew patted his brother's back soothingly. "It's Marco. The food is probably bad."

"Have you noticed that Luffy's aim is better?" Haruta pointed out. "He hasn't missed a single plate of food he was aiming for, and he punched away all the guys that are attacking them. Look!"

They all paid attention to Luffy stretching his arm back to throw a punch at a guy that nearly took off Sabo's head. Not that it'd work, unless the man knew haki, which it didn't seem like it. The punch itself didn't do much but to distract the man long enough for Sabo to turn around to launch a firey kick, knocking the man into two tables.

"Looks like the kid still can't handle his recoil," Izo said when Marco had to stop Luffy's arm from knocking them both off their stool. "When was the last time anyone trained with the brats, anyway?"

"I think Marco's been training Luffy, along with Ace and Sabo. The two older brats' been sparing with whoever has spare time," Vista had his eyes closed in thought.

"I'm pretty sure Marco's supervising those too. You know, so they don't get out of hand and burn someone or the ship," Thatch said.

They gave a low whistle when they saw Ace and Sabo practically fused together to attack the men behind each other. It was like they switched places. The two kids looked at each other in surprise before grinning.

"Must be a new move. Those three sure know how to handle their fruit pretty well for only having them for two years," said Kingdew.

Seeing as Ace just take down the last bandit and Luffy waving at them, the commanders made their way in.

"How many chairs did they break-yoi?" They heard Marco ask Luffy.

"One, two, three," Luffy pointed to each chair as he slowly counted. "Um, all of them!"

"Actually..." the bar owner started timidly before he was cut off by Marco.

"How many chairs did you have total-yoi?"

"There were 25 all together, but there are a few that are still usable."

"Okay. If one chair is 200 beli, how much would 25 chairs cost-yoi?"

"Two hundred beli?! My chairs aren't worth that much!"

"Shush! Luffy's thinking!" Both boys told the bartender.

They all watched as Luffy bend over a sheet of paper with a pen in his hand, while still sitting on Marco's lap. Most of the commander's eyebrows rose in confusion as the boy continue to solve the math problem in his barely legible handwriting.

"4,532 beli," he answered proudly.

"How did he get that answer?" Thatch whispered to Vista, who just shrugged, just as baffled as his other brothers.

Marco, on the other hand, continued on without batting an eye. "And how many tables are broken-yoi?"

"Um, five," Luffy said after looking around.

"If one table is 300 beli, how much would five tables cost-yoi?"

Ace and Sabo gave another glare to the bartender before the man could making another protest.

"1,968 beli." There was a moment of pause in the commander's head as they process the numbers.

"So how much do they owe the owner-yoi?"

"Uh, 7,500 beli."

"Okay." Marco waved his hand in front of the confused bartender to get his attention. "The kids owe you 7,500 beli-yoi. Will that cover everything?"

"Cover everything? That's too much! I can't take that much from children!" the owner protested.

"Think of the extras as a 'thank you fee' for letting us use your place for training-yoi. Besides, they're not paying out of their own pocket," Marco gave the man an easy smile as he put Luffy down. "And you kids owe me 5,000 beli for the five chairs you burned-yoi."

With that, the kids went off to clean the downed bandits of their money.

"Marco, you do you know that that brat's math is wrong, right?" Kingdew pointed out.

Marco merely grinned at them. "Motivation for the other two brats to teach him better-yoi."

Izo crossed his arms and looked at his brother in disapproval. "I can't believe you, of all people, would bring those kids into a bar full of bandits."

"Hands on training-yoi," Marco waved off his brother's concern. "Besides, these kids learn faster with real life situation, than just sparing, where they know they're safe-yoi."

"Is this how you keep them out of trouble?" Thatch asked with wide eyes.

Marco nodded. "Bring them to trouble, so you know to what to expect and hold on to Luffy, or he'll just somehow find trouble you won't be ready for. I had him practice swimming to keep him moving because he wouldn't stay still."

-*/-*/-*/

After getting used to the idea that Whitebeard tends to pick up new family members, Ace and Sabo came up with the idea of pranking new members. Their favorite by far is when the whole ship pretends they weren't there and lets them 'haunt' the ship.

/*-

A few hours after being picked up by the Whitebeard Pirates from being stranded at sea, Jacob rubbed his eyes. He could have sworn he saw a kid a few feet away from him just a second ago. He looked again, and the kid was gone. Just to make sure, he asked the older members he was assigned to work with.

"A kid?" they laughed. "This is a pirate ship. Why would we have kids?"

The man just shrugged it off, thinking maybe he was just tired after drifting around without food for so long.

Then it happened again. This time he saw a blond kid. This one was a little older. He blinked, and the kid was gone. Not wanting to be laughed at again, he didn't mention it. That is, until it happened a third time during dinner in the galley.

"I swear it!" He said to his new family. "There are kids on this ship. At least three of them. One little one, two older ones. I think we should check for stowaways."

A heavy hand landed on the man's shoulder. "With this many people, there's no way we would miss a stowaway or three. Maybe you're seeing ghosts," Thatch said in a low creepy voice, causing everyone to laugh. A shiver crawled up the man's spine as he heard children's laughter along with everyone else's.

Jacob was beginning to think he was going crazy by the next day when he saw all three of them together in the galley, actually eating breakfast at the tables with the commanders. None of the commanders seem to notice them, not even when the smallest one stole food off their plates. Do ghosts need to eat?

When he was on deck after breakfast, the three kids were already there. He could have sworn he left before them, but there they were, running around, chasing each other and everyone not seeing them. Then, all of the sudden, the youngest slipped in between the rails to fall overboard.

Two crew members at the rail where it happened both jumped in after the kid, and Commander Vista, who just happened to standing there, tossed over the rope ladder for them to climb back up. As all this was happening, just about everyone else on the deck rushed towards the cabin.

The man turned to his commander, Blamenco, "So, I'm not going crazy? Those kids are really there?"

Blamenco smacked his hand on the back of the man's back and laughed. "Nah. The kids like to pull pranks on new members." He lead the man towards the kids, just as the smallest made it back up with the other crew members. "These are Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, all hammers. So if you see one go over, make sure you jump in after them. Otherwise...well, you don't want to know what Marco would do to you." Blamenco laughed once more.

"I'd tie you and hang you over the side of the ship and leave you there for a few days-yoi," Marco said as he came up to the group with a large towel in hand.

Then there was a thundering of footsteps as the rest of the crew who were on deck earlier rushed back with various clothing pieces in hand, all excitedly waving them around for the sopping wet child.

"They're Marco's," his commander whispered to him then continued in a louder voice, "This happens often. You'll never see a boring day with these kids around."

"I'll say," Izo said as he came up to them. "Luffy's a walking heart attack waiting to happen." He grabbed the nearest article of clothing to hand to Marco, once Luffy's dried.

"That's a boy, right?"

"Yes," Blamenco answered with a grin.

"Okay." He's not even going to bother. He's stuck on this ship. Don't get him wrong, he likes it there, but there are kids on a pirate ship. Kids that everyone seemed to be fussing over. Better not question anything more, unless he says something stupid enough to be tossed over.

Yes. Whitebeard Pirates enjoy seeing new crew member's reaction to meeting the children.

-*/-*/-*/

Just a month before the boys' 11th and 14th birthday, there was an attack on Moby Dick. It just happens that more than half of the crew were on gone on various different missions at the time. Not that that was a problem, but the pirate crew that was attacking had them out numbered in fighters, so the boys decided to help out in fighting the enemies.

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had no problem with their assigned duty of defending the nurses and doctors who were out and about the deck, helping the injured into the infirmary for treatment. They were on separate parts of the ship, taking down anyone who dared to get in their way of retrieving their injured family members. Not everyone in the 16th division knows how to fight, but they were still fine, since their ship had plenty of other fighters to protect them. Whitebeard didn't care if they could fight or not. All that mattered to him was that they are his children, and he'd keep them safe.

Luffy just punched an enemy out of the way for one of the doctors to take a look at someone from the third division who had been shot in the shoulder, when his haki told him that someone was aiming for them. He pushed the doctor out of the way.

"LUFFY!" the doctor yelled as he watched the boy fall face first onto the deck after the shot was fired.

Upon hearing that one name, most of the Whitebeard Pirates had stopped fighting to turn their heads towards the call. Even Whitebeard stood up from his seat, where he had been observing the fight.

As soon as Ace and Sabo saw the doctor kneeling over Luffy's prone body, they called out an attack, stopping anyone near them from moving. "Hotarubi!" Their anger acted as fuel as they were able to call out more fireflies than they had been able to during training. They were able to push half of the enemy crew towards the rails of the ship, with Marco helping with the other half.

The rest of the Whitebeards stayed out of their way, not wanting to mess with an angry Marco. Looks like they shouldn't mess with an angry Ace or Sabo either. They, Whitebeard included, watched as the enemies backed away in fear from the boys' yellow-green fireflies and Marco's fiery form.

"Who hurt Luffy?" both Ace and Sabo demanded.

There was a moment of silence as no one answered the boys before Marco sent shivers down their spines. "Which one of you bastards shot _my son_ -yoi?" his voice low and dangerous.

"He's okay!" the doctor cries out in relief before Marco could get an answer.

Marco and the boys quickly forgot the enemies as they rushed to Luffy's side.

"I believe his rubbery body saved him," the doctor told them, the battle long forgotten by both sides. "There's only a bruise right here. The bullet must have bounced off him and pushed him down."

"Luffy?" Ace and Sabo tried to nudge their brother awake. Marco watched in satisfaction as the small chest moved up and down.

"Ace? Sabo?" Luffy slurred as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Don't do that again!" His brothers yelled at him. "You scared us!" And they engulfed him in a hug.

Luffy teared up, feeling the fear and relief from them. "I'm sorry," his voice muffled, returning the hug. "I didn't have time to do anything, and I didn't know what to do."

There were sounds of movement behind them before they heard a rumbling sound and felt the ship shake. Then the next thing they knew, parts of the railing and the enemy pirates were thrown out to sea.

"Seems some of them had seconds thoughts about living," Whitebeard commented as he took his seat again.

"Did you do that, Grandpops?" Luffy gave the captain a look of wonderment. "That's so cool!"

Whitebeard looked at the boy in amusement. "Yes, I did. I used my Devil Fruit. I can show you more tomorrow. Right now, I think you and your brothers need to sleep. You boys look tired. Leave the cleaning up for everyone else."

"Come on boys," Marco scooped Luffy up in his arms, "you're sleeping with me tonight-yoi."

After the four of them disappeared into the cabins, the tension dissipated. "I don't think I've ever seen Commander Marco so angry before," someone whispered, but was still loud enough for others to hear.

"You're telling me," Thatch said, "and I've known him since forever." Then he grinned. "I wonder if he realizes that he finally accepted those brats as his sons?"

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** A little of their life before skipping a few years. This chapter skipped around. The boys are anywhere from 8-11 and 11-14 years of age.

Sorry for the late update. I won't be able to put up new chapters as often as I have been, but I will try my best to put them up when I can. I will admit that I didn't go through this chapter as well as I wanted. I just wanted to post it soon so you guys didn't have to wait any longer. I'm sorry. (_ _)


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 _No matter how serious life gets,  
you still gotta have that one  
friend you can be completely stupid with._

 _\- Unknown_

With the boys now 11 and 14, their captain deemed the three of them strong enough to take care of themselves in New World without a chaperon. Or at least Ace and Sabo were, but they can easily take care of their youngest (aka: keeping him out of trouble). What they don't know is that Marco usually sends someone to tail them just in case something happens. Well, Luffy knows but Marco made the kid promise to not say anything to his brothers about it.

All the crew members have seen how much stronger the two older boys have gotten when they fought alongside them during enemy attacks. Luffy mostly sits on Whitebeard's lap on the sidelines, unless Marco lets him help out. Whitebeard and the commanders didn't want any unwanted people to see Luffy's talent. Especially now that he's capable to hold his own after all the training with the commanders.

-*/-*/-*/

Currently, the boys were roaming around a small town on a random island they landed at to restock. With them growing as much as they have been, the crew had been restocking more than they used to. Thatch and Kobato, at least, were happy with how much they've grown. Though they were still worried about Luffy not being as tall as most boys his age. Ace and Sabo's old clothes at his age were still a bit big on him.

They entered a clothing store to buy some new clothes. Ace eyed Luffy in one of his old outfits. It made the boy look even smaller. The shorts were obviously being held up by a belt and went well passed his knees, almost like a capri, and the short sleeved shirt had to be bunched up in the back and tied off so it wouldn't get in his way. They had wanted to buy something that would fit better, but Luffy had insisted that he was fine with their old clothes. Besides, he likes having a tail.

Luffy turned to tug on Sabo, who was standing next to the boy, looking at something on a shelf. "We're being followed."

That had Ace's attention. He took his purchase and joined his brothers. "Who?"

Luffy shook his head, indicating he didn't know. "There's two, though. Kinda strong but not really."

Sabo looked outside, just giving it a cursory glance as he thought. He didn't see anyone out of the ordinary. "We shouldn't cause too much trouble for the people here. They might be following out of curiosity. Remember that one guy that followed us because he wanted to join the crew?"

They remember that. The man had followed them because he saw them leaving Moby Dick and followed them, hoping for a chance to ask them if he could join. This was at the last island. They beat the man up because he seemed suspicious and caused such a commotion that the people there were afraid to talk to them afterwards. Thatch laughed at the poor man when he came to see what was going on. Too bad for him, Whitebeard didn't take him because the kids didn't like him. It was more like, Ace and Sabo didn't like him because the man was trying to be sneaky, and they didn't want him near Luffy.

"Could be that. Let's just see what happens. But if they want a fight, we'll be ready."

Ace and Luffy nodded, and they left the store to wander the town a little more. They followed Luffy around, going in and out of stores that caught his interest.

"Opps," Luffy said sheepishly as he turned around to his brothers. He'd accidently led them down a deserted alley with a dead end.

The dead-end alley wasn't long. It was long and dark enough that they didn't realize it was a dead end until it was too late. It was also short enough that they were caught off guard when two people all of the sudden ran towards them.

There wasn't enough time to defend themselves when Ace and Luffy were handcuffed together.

"Dammit," Ace cursed as he felt himself growing weaker. He fell to his hands and knees and saw how his youngest brother dropped face down right next to him. "Luffy?"

"Sabo," Luffy said weakly as he lifted his head and reached his free arm out in front of him.

Ace looked up in time to see them cuff Sabo as well and took off with him. Ace yelled out Sabo's name. He pushed himself up and tried to help Luffy, only for them to fall back down. Not knowing what else to do and with only the thought of saving Sabo on his mind, Ace crawled his way towards the alley entrance, dragging Luffy along with him.

"Ace? Luffy?" Ace looked up to see West at the mouth of the alley looking down at them with worry. "What happened? Where's Sabo?" West is screwed. He knows he's screwed. Marco is going to kill him. All because he took his eyes off the kids for a few minutes.

"Sabo," Luffy whimpered. "People came and took Sabo."

"We have to go get him back," Ace said, still crawling.

"Okay. But first, we have to take care of you guys." West picked them both up and carried Luffy in his arm while Ace was tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, facing forward.

"What is this thing?" Ace shook his left hand, jingling the chains. "I feel like mush."

"Probably seastone. It takes away your Devil Fruit's power," West explained. "It's supposed to make you feel like you've been dumped in the sea, sapping your strength."

"Can you tell which way they went?" Luffy nodded at Ace's question. "Good. Keep track. We're getting Sabo back as soon as we get this thing off."

"Marco!" West called out once their ship was in view.

They saw Marco walking up to the rails to look for them before he transformed his arms to wings to get to them faster.

"What happened?" he asked once he took in the handcuff and the lack of Sabo.

"Get these things off us right now!" Ace demanded, kicking his legs weakly.

"Pops, they took Sabo," Luffy whined weakly from West's arm.

"Seastone-yoi?" Marco asked, knowing that if it were just regular cuffs, Ace would be able to break them off easily. The boys nodded anyway. "Get on the ship. Bekky is still on board. He can get those off for you-yoi."

"Hurry! We have to get Sabo back," Ace demanded, practically whining.

Ignoring Ace's urge to go faster, West relayed what the boys had told him to Marco.

"Those guys were well prepared-yoi. They must have known about your fruit abilities beforehand. Otherwise, why would they use seastone? Those things are too expensive to just use normally," Marco pointed out. "They could be dangerous-yoi."

"According to Luffy, they're not strong. We were just caught off guard," Ace huffed. "They cheated."

"Should I round up everyone?" Bekky asked as soon as he got the cuffs off the kids.

Marco had to hold them by the back of their shirts to keep them from running off the save Sabo themselves.

"It should be fine," Marco said. "I'll go with them. I'll give you a call if we need back up-yoi. Which way?" He transformed into a phenonix, grabbed the boys, and flew in the direction Luffy pointed.

"There's lots of them now. In there." Luffy pointed to a small marine base below them.

"The marines?" Marco's eyes narrowed. "What would the marines want with Sabo-yoi?"

Ace shrugged as Marco landed right next to a solid brick wall where there were less guards. "Who knows. Maybe his parents finally got fed up and decided to pay the government to get him back."

"Make sense-yoi," Marco mused. "Wait here. I'll go get him."

"Wait," Ace pulled the man back by the arm before he could transform again. "We'll go. I already told that stupid dad of his to leave Sabo alone. He didn't listen, so we'll make sure he listens this time." Ace gave him an evil grin.

"Fine, but if I think you need help, I'm coming in-yoi."

"No worries," Ace brought up his a flaming fist. "We'll make sure you won't even have to lift a finger." Both he and Marco frowned at how small his flames were and how it flickered unsteadily.

"Hurry up, let's go," Luffy urged them, not noticing what was wrong.

"It might be because you and Sabo share fruit powers. It should be fine after you get the seastone off of him-yoi," Marco said. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye out on you boys."

"Okay," Ace nodded. He had originally wanted to punch a hole in the wall, but with how his fire is acting, he decided against it. Instead he used Luffy to rocket them up and over the wall.

Marco stood nearby, listening as he heard a few shouts. He then decided to take flight in order to keep an eye on the kids in case he needed to step in. He was cautious to fly high enough so the enemies wouldn't notice him but low enough to keep an eye on the boys.

As soon as Ace and Luffy were over the wall, they took down the few men that were under them and ran towards the building where they were sure held their brother. After taking a few more men on their way, Luffy pointed out one of the men that had attacked them in the alley. Ace didn't recognize him now that the man was in the usualy marine uniform, rather than street clothes.

The man saw them and ran in the opposite direction, only to be stopped by a sword being pointed at his neck and a dagger by the smaller boy sitting on his shoulders.

"Sabo's keys. Now," Ace hissed from in front of the man, as Luffy glared at everyone else to back off, from his higher position.

Not wanting his head lopped off, the marine quickly complied and led them to the room where they put all their keys, asking/begging other marines they run into to let them pass. After getting the keys, the man took them to the prison cell that held their brother.

"Sabo!" Luffy cheered once they made it. He jumped off the man, who fell to the ground from the force of the jump on his back.

Ace kept an eye on the marine quivering in the corner as Luffy opened the cell door and very carefully, very slowly, unlock the seastone on Sabo. It had taken a few tries before Luffy was able to unlock the cuffs without touching it and draining his energy. He wouldn't let Ace help him, insisting that he could do it himself and that he'd save Sabo.

"That feels so much better," Sabo stretched his body then picked up his top hat off the ground.

"Me too," Ace said. "Apparently, if just one of us touches seastone, it'll affect the other one too."

"That's intersting," Sabo said. Now that they were free, Sabo gave Ace a grin, and they lit their fists on fire, causing the poor marine hostage to cry out in fear. "Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"This place sucks. I think we should burn it down."

"That's a great idea. Oh! How about our signature? You know, Luffy's drawing?"

"Oh, I like that idea. Maybe that bastard who thinks he's my father will finally leave me alone," Sabo grinned even wider.

They both turned their grin to the poor man on the floor. "You picked the wrong people to piss off," they both said as Luffy laughed behind his brothers.

Ace took out a marker he had in his pocket and doodled on the man's face. "There. Make sure you tell that bastard that Sabo belongs to us, not him."

"Lots of people coming," Luffy told them as he giggled at the sight of the marine quivering in fear with Ace hovering right over his face.

As soon as Ace finished, he and Sabo turned to face the oncoming group of marines and gave them an eerie grin before unleashing a Hiken right at them. Ace then grabbed Luffy, and the three of them ran right through the inferno. They are going to teach Outlook III to never go after Sabo again by crushing this marine base. If that doesn't work, maybe asking their Pops to fly them to Dawn will. One way or another, Ace is determined to free Sabo from his parents.

Marco flew around in circles, pacing in the sky, as he waited and waited and waited. It's only been a few minutes, but waiting and not knowing how his kids were doing was aggravating. After ten minutes, he was done waiting. Sure, he trusts them to be able to take care of themselves, so he's not going to barge into the base to look for them. Instead, he's going to unleash his aggravation on the marines for taking his kid.

He landed right behind a group of marines who were rushing in to the base to fight and kicked the nearest one, alerting the rest of his presence.

When the kids finally came out of the building, they found Marco shaking the life out of a marine with his Phoenix talons and wings flapping, keeping him airborne. "...and tell that asshole that Sabo is my kid, not his, and the next time anyone tries to kidnap any one of my kids again, I'm to tear them limb by limb," he lectured before tossing the marine to a pile of bodies next to him.

Ace and Sabo stopped a few feet of Marco, each holding a mop. Somehow, Ace wasn't as surprised as he thought he'd be that Marco had left a message for the stupid noble before he could.

"Pops! Pops," Luffy ran over to give the man a hug, splashing paint he was carrying all over the man's shirt. "Look! We got Sabo's back."

Marco eyed the blond boy and was relieved to find no injury. He gave the blond boy a smile, "Good to have you back."

"Glad to be back," Sabo smiled widely back.

"Graffiti-yoi?" he nodded to where Ace was smearing paint that Luffy was carrying with a mop, onto a wall.

"Our symbol," Sabo said. "It's our initials, and the wings represents our freedom."

Remembering what Luffy had told him about birds having freedom to go where they wanted the one time the boy asked him to take him flying, Marco nodded in approval. It was a simple drawing of a wing on each side of their initials, ASL. Very symbolic, he thought.

"Luffy thought of the design," Ace said as he finished up his art. "Though his drawing was a mess."

"Ace refined it. We thought about using it as our signature," Sabo grinned with his arms behind his head. "Didn't think we'd be using it this soon, though."

Marco shook his head at the boys and laughed as the two older boys went on to paint more of their symbol around the base.

"So?" They slowly walked back to their ship. There was no hurry. Most of the marines were already too injured to move or dead. Any that were too scared of the children and hid during the kids' 'tour' of the base would be too busy tending to the dead and injured, also putting out the fires they caused.

Sabo shrugged. "That bastard father of mine offered the marines a nice sum if I were to be returned home unharmed."

"That's what Ace thought-yoi," Marco nodded.

"I did overhear that someone tipped them off about where I've been and stuff. Hence the seastone, I guess," Sabo shrugged

"I'm worried about the tipper," Marco said after a brief pause. "We should let Pops know. Who knows what this person knows and how much they've told the marines-yoi."

When they returned, most of the crew were already back on the ship, standing on deck with weapons drawn. The crew gave a loud cheer when the four of them were seen. Bekky and West had went out to gather as many of their siblings as they could so they'd be ready to attack if needed.

Later that night Marco found himself in his captain's room.

"What's wrong, son?" Whitebeard asked at the worried look on the first commander's face. He motioned for his son to sit on the bed next to him.

"I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me, Pops-yoi," Marco sighed into his hands.

"Have you gone to see your brother?"

Marco huffed and crossed his arms as he remember's Izo's smirk and his dismissive wave. "Yeah. He told me to talk to you about it-yoi." He continued at Whitebeard's raised eyebrow. "Every time I see the kids in danger, I get this urge to kill everyone and anyone that gets in my way of saving them-yoi. This over protectiveness is wrong, and I don't know what to do about it. It's to the point where I almost want to keep them in my sight at all time. I can't do that though. They're growing boys who are definitely strong enough take care of themselves-yoi. I mean, they did just take down a Marine base today. They were lucky there were only low level marines, nothing higher than the one captain there. Would you believe those brats took their time running around an enemy base? Why couldn't they just get Sabo and come right back out? Instead, they just leave me out there, worrying about them because I have no idea what was going on in there, and I didn't want them to think that I didn't trust them enough to take care -"

Whitebeard paused as he let the information sink before he laughed loudly, interrupting his son's rant. "There is nothing wrong with what you're feeling, son. That is perfectly normal for a parent. And yes, you are now a parent. There is no denying it. I feel the same way about you and your siblings. There are days that I want to keep the ship in Paradise or in one of the Blues, where it's much safer, but if I did that, no one would be happy. You have to learn to not be too over protective. It's hard, but don't worry, you'll figure this out."

-*/-*/-*/

A few weeks after the whole Sabo kidnapping event, Garp paid the Whitebeard crew a visit. He was led by Marco to their training room, where he watched his grandson duel with their youngest commander. Haruta, if he remembered correctly. He watched as the boy took up a stance with two swords, which were smaller than normal to fit his size. He recognized the stance as Vista's.

"Practice-yoi," Marco explained. "He needs someone who'd be able to keep up with him and his different fighting style. He did insist that he wants to just fight with only his Devil Fruit's power, but I think it'd be best to keep training him with everything else as a precaution-yoi. He's getting to the point where he can switch styles flawlessly and make them his own."

Luffy's eyes wandered over to catch his grandpa's before the boy was forced to pay attention to his opponent again. Garp strayed his eyes to his other two grandsons standing up in the stands. They haven't noticed him yet it seemed.

Marco let them continue for a few more minutes before calling for them to stop and gathered the boys and all the commanders to the meeting room.

Luffy ran up to give his grandpa a hug that was returned. Ace and Sabo greeted him with their usual "Shitty Gramps" and a grin. It was all per usual. He didn't mind, but that didn't stop his Fist of Love though.

"What's brought you here today, Garp," Whitebeard asked once the door closed.

"Teach," Garp answered. Well that, and to check up on his grandsons after he heard what had happened to Sabo. "He provided the government information about your crew in exchange for a seat as a Shichibukai. I don't know what information he gave though."

The commanders started talking all at once to each other, pondering what the traitor was planning. Whitebeard held up a hand to quiet them and gestured for the marine to continue.

"No idea what he's planning, especially since he has no bounty. The government wasn't even aware of him until then. He accused me of being a pirate's informant of all things. Could you believe that?" Garp laughed. "Of course they have no proof or reason to doubt the Great Marine Hero. Sengoku isn't stupid enough to believe a pirate, but I've been put on temporary leave. I mentioned going back home to East Blue, and low and behold, the bastard learned about some shitty Noble looking for his son." He looked at Sabo.

"I'm surprised he's just now making his move-yoi," Marco said.

"He was probably bidding his time and gathering supporters. He now has a crew. They call themselves Blackbeard Pirates." Garp scoffed. "Because of all this, I won't be able to offer you anymo information until things cools down. The bastard even told them my grandsons has joined your crew. Good old Sengoku. He told Teach that that wasn't possible since my grandsons disappeared years ago," he gave another loud laugh before worry took over his face.

"Teach doesn't know too much about the boys," Whitebeard offered when Garp looked to Luffy in worry. "Only those in this room knows their story. Teach was already long gone before Luffy made it known to the rest of the crew of his skills. Even still, they don't know anything passed that they were once slaves. That's as much as Teach knows."

Garp nodded in understanding. He knelt to give each of the boys a hug before leaving, knowing that Whitebeard would keep his grandsons safe.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Not too sure about this chapter. I liked it when I wrote it, but after typing out, I'm not too happy with it. Oh wells.

I've had a few people mention that the story seems to be moving fast. It is. I didn't want to write a long story. :x


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 _The good thing about losing  
everything is you have  
absolutely nothing left to  
loose, and absolutely  
everything in the world to gain._

 _\- Mandy Hale_

Months later, they once again docked near an island with a bustling town on the other side. Everyone gathered their things and disembarked to set up for another party on the beach, away from the population.

The three boys were the first to run off towards the forest that separated them from the town when they were given the okay. Their game of tag somehow turned into a game hide-and-seek. The whole forest was their hiding place. Ace concentrated his Haki to try and find his brothers.

They never let Luffy be 'it.' They knew they wouldn't be able to hide from their brother for long. The boy's Observation Haki was always on, and he didn't know how to turn it off to make the game even. He and Sabo didn't understand how Luffy was still able to find them when they suppressed their presence. Luffy's only explanation was that Ace is Ace, and Sabo is Sabo. He always knows where they are. It was only them that it worked on. When they tested it out with a few other commanders, Luffy couldn't find them with their presence hidden.

It took him a little over an hour, but Ace finally found Sabo. Now with Sabo on his side, they both concentrated on finding their younger brother. Luffy's always the hardest to find. Especially since they have a special rule that they can continue moving about and change their hiding place until the seeker finds them and calls out their name. It made their game more challenging. Maybe a little challenging.

Luffy giggled to himself as he swung from one branch to another. It was a freeing feeling to have the wind blow passed his face and through his hair. Almost like when Marco takes him flying. Almost.

The trees grew sparser, and he realized he was coming towards the edge of the forest and had to turn back. Before he did, he noticed the presence of three people and heard a few voices and decided to investigate out of curiosity. He quietly landed on a thick branch high above the three people. One held a sword, while another had a gun, both pointing at one person with a long unsheathe sword perched on his shoulder. All he could see of the other person was white hair.

Not really thinking much of what he was doing, Luffy jumped to land in the between the two group and stretched his leg to swipe the two with the drawn weapon off their feet.

"Well, that was easy," Luffy scratched the back of his head and tilted it in confusion before he went over the two to check if they were conscious or not. They weren't. Satisfied, he turned to look at the person they were threatening. He tilted his head in curiosity. The man in front of him didn't look old. Oh, it wasn't white hair he saw from above, it was a fuzzy white hat with brown spots around the sides.

The young man just looked at the girl in front of him with a confused look, not quite sure what just transpired. One minute, he had two men cornering him, and the next minute, a girl saves his life, though he didn't need the help.

They didn't say anything, just gauging each other. One, unsure if the other could be trusted, the other, out of curiosity.

"Crap. I forgot," Luffy exclaimed in a panic before jumping up and hiding himself in the tree he was in earlier.

Moments later, two young teenage boys ran out of the trees and stopped to catch their breath with their hands on their knees, startling the young man once again.

The blond looked up and gave him a pleasant smile before asking. "Excuse us, have you seen a girl in a light green dress and a straw hat come this way? About this tall?" He held his hand to just a little under his chest.

How should he answer that? He wasn't sure if the girl was being chased too or not. Is she the bad guy or were these two boys? Though, she did seem panicked. Should he answer? Should he lie? They don't look dangerous, but looks could be deceiving. He had learned that from _that_ man. He's heard of that man's many failed experiments. Lie it is. No point in endangering the person that just helped him.

"No."

"Dammit," the darker haired boy hissed. "I could have sworn I felt him here." Then he looked at the stranger. "Or maybe it was you."

"Whose idea was it to add the special rule?" the blond moaned in his hand. "How long has this game gone on?"

Sabo turned to look at his brother when he was nudged in the side. "Hey, Sabo," Ace pointed to the two downed men.

"You didn't do that, did you?" Sabo asked the stranger with a grin.

Ace looked up and around in the trees, trying to spot their brother with no luck. "Lu, I know you're here somewhere. We give up. Let's go back."

They looked directly up where they hear the rustling of leaves, the movement caused a few to rain down on them. Luffy popped his head down and giggled before jumping down in front of his brothers. "Yay! I win again!"

Sabo grinned at the stranger knowingly. "We thank you for your attempt to protect our, uh, sister. I'm Sabo, that's Ace, and that's Lu," he took off his top hat and gave a slight bow in greeting and pointed to each one of his siblings as he introduced them.

"Tralfalgar Law," he nodded at them before looking back at the unconscious men when one of them moaned. "Well then, if you would excuse me. I have some business to take care of."

Law was surprised once more when Lu handed him a long vine. He'd have thought the three would have left already. "Thank you." He used it tie up the men. "You ate a Devil's Fruit, didn't you?"

"Yup."

"You did a good job taking these guys out in one move," he said as he stood back up to study his handiwork. "But I could have taken care of them myself."

"I know. Sorry." The girl didn't look sorry as she continued to give him a blinding smile.

"So what's their story?" Sabo waved at the unconscious men, then winced when Ace smacked them both on the head when one tried to open his eyes. They were definitely unconscious now.

"Long story," Law sighed. "Weren't you guys leaving?"

"Come with us," the girl practically demanded.

Sabo studied the person in front of him before he made up his mind. Luffy wouldn't have invited the other guy if he were a danger to them. "We're having a party. You can tell us your long story along the way." He figured he should thank the person for trying to shield their youngest brother from unknown dangers.

Law stared at them for a long moment before agreeing. He's hungry anyway and had no money. Might as well get something to eat while he can. If they were dangerous, he could easily take out the three of them.

"Lu, would you mind hanging those bastards? Somewhere really high where the birds can reach easily," Sabo requested.

"Okay." Luffy grabbed the end of the two vines and stretched up to reach the highest branch he could grab and rocketed them up.

"So?" Ace asked as they waited for Luffy to finish. "Why were you being chased by Doflamingo's men?" Ace and Sabo had seen the pink bastard's tattoo on both of those men. It was mostly hidden under the men's sleeves, but they saw it. They weren't sure if Luffy saw it or not, but they didn't want to worry the boy. Luffy still showed fear when anyone mentioned the bastard.

"I ran away from him when he killed the person that saved my life. Long story short, I now have something he wants," Law said darkly.

The two gave him an overly happy smile that he found creepy. "What?" he asked warily.

"Good for you," they both answered before laughing.

"I don't get it. What's so funny? And how did you know those were Joker-ya's men?"

"Let's just say we have a history with the pink bastard, and we have something he wants too," Ace grinned.

Sabo nodded just when Luffy jumped down. He placed an arm around his younger brother's shoulder and brought him into a protective hug. "And he'll never get it back."

"How can you be so sure? He's got men all over the place. I've had many close calls with his men," Law said suspiciously.

"We're hiding in the safest place in the world," they both said together again.

"I see. I'm interested to see where this safest place in the world is."

"Then follow us. We're having a party today," Sabo said.

"Party!" Luffy sang. "Food!"

"Bath first, Lu," Ace said. "I don't think they're ready yet."

"Then let's play some more."

"No. Let's just head back and get ready," Sabo said. Now that they've ran into Joker's men, they didn't feel safe to be too far from their family, somewhere safe.

"How did you know it wasn't me that took those men out?" Law asked curiously as he followed the trio.

"Because you have a sword," Ace said, looking pointedly at the long sword resting on the taller person's shoulder. "They didn't have any cuts on them."

"And because we know Lu's handiwork anywhere," Sabo turned his head around to give a grin. "Lu's the only one we know can attack someone and leave people confused. You had this look like you didn't know what just happened when we first saw you."

Law trailed after them in comfortable silence, slowing to a stop once the saw the large ship off the shore of the beach. "Whitebeard-ya," he whispered.

"That's right," Sabo smiled. "The safest place in the world."

"How did you end up with Whitebeard-ya?" Law continued his pace behind them.

"We kidnapped Pops. Then Pops kidnapped us," Luffy said as he turned his head in an awkward angle to look behind him.

"That's disturbing," Law pointed out.

"What is? That we were kidnapped by the person we kidnapped?" Ace asked with his arms behind his head.

"No, that," Law pointed at Luffy.

"You'll get used to it," Sabo shrugged. "He's made of rubber, so he tends to do strange things like that."

"Hey, kids," Izo waved them over with the newspaper. "You have to see this."

Luffy stretched his arms to grab ahold of Whitebeard's shoulder, who sat next to Izo and a few other commanders, and rocketed over, while Ace and Sabo ran the rest of the way. That left Law to walk in his own slow pace.

"You boys made the news," Izo announced.

Ace and Sabo took the offered newspaper and read it. It was about their little escapade at the marine base when they busted Sabo out.

"Why did it take them so long to print this?" Sabo asked.

Vista held up a poster for them to take, his grin widened as they looked at it. "Must be because they couldn't decide what to do with their lack of picture."

It was a new wanted poster that was just released. In place of their picture was the symbol they used.

Law looked over their shoulder to take a look at the wanted poster once he reached the group. "ASL?" he asked.

"Who is this?" Whitebeard asked.

"That's Trafal…Trafalafal…Trao," Luffy said from the large man's shoulders.

"Trafalgar Law."

"Yeah, that. Bad people wanted to kill him, but I stopped them," Luffy kicked his legs back and forth as he told his version of the event.

"Oh? Is that so?" Whitebeard gave the young man a considering look, before looking at Ace and Sabo.

"Our dear _sister_ , Lu," Sabo said, hinting at a game they wanted them to play, along with another message to Whitebeard, "knocked them out before _his men_ could kill Trao."

"Lu," Whitebeard took the hint, while the other commanders around them snickered, "why don't you go with Vista to find Marco and help him set things up?"

Vista helped the boy down from his perch, and they walked away to find the First Division Commander. Vista whispered to everyone he passed about their new prank they were playing while he was at it.

"Now then, why is Doflamingo's men after you?" Whitebeard asked. "And why did you two bring him here?"

"Ah, well, you see…" Ace wasn't really sure himself. "Um, I don't know." He said sheepishly. "Lu said to?"

"Strange reason," Law stated. "I would have thought it was because I have something Joker-ya wants, not because your younger sister said to."

"Yeah, that."

"You're starting to sound like Lu," Sabo teased his brother. "It's because he was kind enough to protect Lu because he thought we were after her during our game of hide and seek. I invited him to our party as thanks for trying to protecting her, and technically, Lu told him to come."

"Oh? That was very kind of you. Thank you for looking after my grandchild. You have something Doflaming wants, you say? How did you get your hand on something that?" Whitebeard said conversationally, as he took a sip of alcohol from his large mug.

Law stared at the large man with wide eyes before spouting, "Your grandchild?!"

That caused the commanders there to laugh. "All three of them are," Izo said, "though, not by blood. Everyone on the ship is one big family. We call Whitebeard as Pops. The kids calls him Grandpops because they gave the title of Pops to Marco."

"Let me get this right," Law rubbed his temple, "the Pops-ya you said you kidnapped and then kidnapped you in turn, was Marco-ya? Marco the Phoenix?" Ace and Sabo nodded with a gleeful grin. "How did you even manage that?"

"We can't tell you," the two sang.

Haruta sighed. "Even we don't know how they did it. Marco made them promise not to tell. Must be too embarrassing to tell."

"Now what was this about you having something Doflamingo want?" Whitebeard asked again.

Law stayed silent while he looked at Whitebeard, thinking if he should trust this man or not.

"You can trust Grandpops," Ace and Sabo both said.

"He's the reason we're free. If it wasn't for him, we'd still be stuck in a cell, and Lu would never learn of the outside world," Sabo said cheerfully.

"Don't you mean, if it weren't for you kidnapping Marco?" Haruta teased.

"Details," Ace waved it off. "Grandpops and the commanders are helping us protect what the pink bastard wants. He can help you too."

"Just one question first: Do you want eternal life?" Law asked.

Whitebeard's eyes widened before he gave out a loud laugh. "What would I do with eternity? We all grow old. We all die. That's what life is about. Without death, there would be no reason to dream!"

The answer surprised Law. Who wouldn't want to live forever if given the chance? He was startled out of his stupor by several of the commanders' "Here! Here!"

"Does my answer not satisfy you?" Whitebeard asked curiously with a soft smile.

"I...I ate the Ope Ope no Mi. In exchange for my own life, I can give another eternal life. That's what Joker-ya wants," he finally answered, looking to the ground. He then gave a loud sigh before continuing, not seeing how Whitebeard lifted his hand to silence his sons. "I think I should start from the beginning," Law after a thoughtful pause, taking a seat on the sandy beach in front of the captain. "Due to circumstances I don't really feel like reliving right now, I willingly joined Doflamingo-ya's family when I was ten. I was dying from a disease, but Cora-san, Joker-ya's blood brother, took me around against Joker-ya's wishes, to find a cure. There is no cure. Instead he gave me the Ope Ope no Mi. Cora-san saved my life, but Joker-ya killed him, his own blood brother. To sum it up, I've been in his family for two years, with Cora-san for a year before he was killed, and on the run for the past four years with a few close calls."

Really. Why did he tell them all this? He still was on the fence about joining them but seeing how Whitebeard took in three children claiming they were wanted by Joker made him feel safe. Whitebeard is known for taking care of their own, whether it be attacks by the marines or other pirates.

"We've never met the family," Ace mused.

"We were, ah, slaves for his subordinates, I guess that's what they were, for about five years," Sabo said. "We were freed and stayed with Grandpops."

"You should stay here too," Ace gave Law a smile, already liking the other for wanting to protect Luffy. "Lu thinks you should stay."

"I agree," Whitebeard said. "It'd be safer for you if you were under my protection. Especially if you know so much about the family. He wouldn't stop to get you back in order to keep you quiet. Sounds like he'd want you to use your abilities for his own purpose. There is no need to let everyone know about your ability to give eternal life if you'd like. Just the ones here, and I'm sure not one of us have a need for it."

The commanders around him nodded in agreement.

"Ace, Sabo," a member from Division Ten called out to the boys. "your, ah, sister needs a bath. She kind of ran amuck in the kitchen."

"Coming!" the boys yelled back.

"Isn't she old enough to bathe herself?" Law asked.

"Yes, but if left on her own, Lu may drown herself in the tub or something equally stupid," Sabo sighed as he got up to leave with Ace.

"Something to keep in mind if you join us: Lu is a heart attack waiting to happen," Haruta snickered.

"That's a good way to put it-yoi," Marco huffed as he walked up to the group. His shirt looked like it got burned in parts and had what looked like sauce dripping from his hair. "The kid nearly burned down the ship, instead of the other two. Who's this-yoi?"

"You're not going to take a bath with them? Looks like you need it. This is Traflagar Law. Lu recruited him. Sounds like he and those brats have something in common," Izo said.

Marco glared at Izo. "The last time I took a bath with them, the three of them nearly drowned themselves while trying to save each other, and I worked up a sweat-yoi. Welcome to the family, Law. I swear, those three are going to give me gray hair."

"That's because you worry too much. You need to relax," said Fossa. Law didn't even have a chance to say anything about his joining them.

"Maybe Pops should have made you their caretaker instead," Marco countered.

"Sorry, no thanks. I'm already mostly bald, and I'm not ready to handle the title of 'Pops,' yet."

"Sorry to interrupt, Commanders, but we need some extra helping hands in the kitchen," one of the cooks came out to tell them.

"But we can't cook," Izo pointed out.

"No, but you can repair things. Everyone else is already doing something."

The all groaned as Marco grinned at them. "Have fun guys. I still need to pick up some supplies from town after I clean up once the boys are done-yoi."

"Law, you're coming with us," Haruta dragged a stunned Law with them.

-*/-*/-/

"So what's this party for?" Law asked from his seat next to Lu as he eyed the fancy decorations.

"They didn't tell you?" Ace asked around a mouth full of food.

"We're celebrating our birthday, our first wanted poster, and you joining," Sabo replied, thankfully after he finished swallowing.

"Special day indeed, and I never agreed on joining," Law sighed. "So how old are you now?"

"Twelve!" Luffy threw out his arms into the air, causing a piece of his meat to land on someone's head. "Opps."

That surprised Law. "It's your birthday too? You're…small."

"We're fifteen. It's all three of our birthday. It's the day we were reborn, so to speak," Sabo explained. "Since it's the same day you're joining, it can be your birthday too."

"I'll pass. About that wanted poster," Law asked curiously, seems they're ignoring the fact that he never said he'd join, "what's with that picture?"

"You don't have a choice. It's your birthday too. ASL: Ace, Sabo, Lu, and the wings represents our freedom," Ace drew it in the sand for him to see. "Lu designed it."

"What did you do to get 10 million beli?"

Sabo handed him the newspaper clipping he cut out. "Don't ruin it. I'm putting that in our album."

"Eighteen dead, eighty-four injured, entire base destroyed? You three did this for no reason at all?" Law clearly didn't believe it. The news didn't even mention that the marine had Sabo or that Marco was involved. It just said the three kids came to wreak havoc for no apparent reason. They didn't even name who the children were either. Sabo thinks it's because his dad didn't want people to know he's related to some hoodlums.

"I think Pops helped with the injured count. Not sure if the numbers are correct, but yeah, we blew the place up," Ace grinned. "They deserved it. They took Sabo from us."

"They're calling you demon children out for blood for no apparent reason," Law grinned at them, which the two boys returned.

"Numbers sounds right," Lu answered all the while shoving food in her mouth.

"Not very lady-like, is she?" Law mumbled under his breath. "And how would you know?"

"I counted. I …." Luffy was forced to stop talking as both Ace and Sabo shoved more food in his mouth.

Law blinked at that. "Okay. She counted." Law shook his head before he remembered what he had wanted to ask earlier. "What is it that you have that Joker-ya wants? Seems fair since I told you."

He looked concern as Lu chocked on her food, Ace and Sabo on either side patting her back. Marco came by with a glass of juice for her to drink.

"We don't talk about that person around Lu-yoi," Marco whispered as took a seat and placed Lu on his lap.

"All better Lu?" both his brothers asked worriedly.

"Yeah," she rasped back as she snuggled her face into Marco's chest.

"You know," Law tried for a change of topic, "with as much as you eat, I'm surprised you're so short." Or maybe that wasn't a good topic if he went by Thatch's grimace from his left. He just wanted to tease them.

"Probably because Lu can't seem to stay still for a second," Ace grinned at him as he pointed to his sister.

Law saw what he meant. The kid kept on moving, whether it be her arms stretching to get more food or her legs twitching or some other body part. She's always in some sort of motion.

"So you're saying that if she ate a normal amount, she'd disappear from using too much energy?" Law smirked.

"Never thought of it that way," Sabo placed his pointer finger and thumb to his chin in thought.

Law's smirk dropped. "Don't test it. I was teasing."

"Wasn't going to," Sabo waved the idea off. "I was just thinking. Do you think it's something we should be worried about, Pops?" he asked Marco.

"I'm surprised it took you boys this long to realize something's up-yoi. You boys have enough on your plate, and we didn't want you to worry any more than you had to. So we didn't say anything. It's nothing too serious though. So don't worry about it-yoi," Marco said.

"What?" Ace placed the food in his hand back down on the plate. "There's something wrong with Lu? But me and Sabo eat a lot too."

"She eats more than we do, Ace, _and_ she's a lot shorter than we were at that age."

Ace turned worried eyes to their caretaker. "What's wrong with Lu?"

Luffy turned and tilted his head at his brother when he heard his nickname. Marco ruffled the boy's hair, handing him plate to get him to eat again. "Just a slight nutrition deficiency. It's what is stunting her growth-yoi. Kobato is working with Thatch with your meals. Or did you not notice how much energy you have now compared to before, or that Thatch only cooks for you and the commanders, while the others cooks for everyone else-yoi?"

"Now that you mention it," Sabo said.

"So what, cooks are like doctors then?" Ace said as he continued to stuff his face.

"Not quite," Thatch laughed. "I can only help the body heal through healthy food."

"This Kobato is a doctor?" Law asked in interest.

"She's our doctor," Sabo answered. "She's a pediatrician. She treats underprivileged kids at every island. I think Kobato's in town right now."

That was when Kobato walked, just returning from her trip to town, arms full of medical supplies. "That's right. Pops helped me fulfill my lifelong dream. To be able to treat children who wouldn't normally be able to see a doctor because of financial difficulties is a dream come true," she swooned before sighing. "Cost of medication is expensive in a lot of places, and children sometimes get put on the back burner because they don't contribute to the family or because they have no parents to provide for them. You must be Trafalgar Law. Marco told me about you while he was in town."

Law hummed as he took in the information. "Do you think you can teach me? I want to be a surgeon, but there's only so much I can learn on my own."

"Sure. I don't mind. Izo is our head doctor, though. You may learn more from him. We even have a couple of surgeons also. I double as a nurse on the ship when we're short staffed. It's not like we make a habit of picking up children for me to treat," she laughed.

"She was in a sad state of depression when we picked her up-yoi," Marco said after Kobato left to put her things away. "That week we found her, she didn't have a choice but to let a little girl die because her family didn't have the money to continue the treatment-yoi. At the time, she couldn't give out free treatment because her own financial hardship."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** And there's the reason I came up with to have Kobato on Moby Dick. :P

I have some free time this week and next, hopefully. So here's another chapter sooner than I had hoped~

By the way, thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! They make me feel better about my story. ✧٩(ˊωˋ*)و✧


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 _Write your own definitions  
for love and happiness  
and let everyone else  
do the same._

 _\- Jeff Hood_

Law really should have realized it. He really should have. One minute he was helping the crew clean up after the party, bringing things back to the ship, and the next, the ship was moving. Moby Dick has left the island without so much as a warning, leaving him stranded on the ship. By the time he realized they'd left, it was already too late for him to dive overboard and swim back to shore.

As soon as he was shown to a room where he'd be staying, because everyone there was convinced that he's staying with them, Law heaved a sigh and figured he's stuck with them. Or at least until he finds a way to get away from them. If he even feels like it. It was tempting to stay with the offer of learning from real surgeons. There's only so much he can learn from books and dead animals.

A week later, a week of saving Lu from drowning herself by almost every strange happenings he'd never thought could happen, Law found himself unable to leave the strange girl alone on a potentially dangerous place. Not that the crew members were dangerous, everyone there seems to dot on the trio, but because the girl seems to find trouble just about everyday. Law mildly wondered if anyone ever taught the girl any common sense. Really, how can anyone nearly strangle and drown herself doing laundry?

Not to mention that the trio grew on him. It was like living with his sister again, to have a younger sibling to look after. There is no replacing his sister, but his older brother instincts is still with him after so long. The three of them were crazy, they need someone sane to watch over them.

He's going to ignore the fact that there's plenty of others on the ship to watch over them and the fact that his heart was already set on staying ever since telling Whitebeard what Joker wanted from him.

-*/-*/-*/

Law woke up one morning to someone opening the door to the room they gave him, which was across from Marco's. He groaned as he opened his eyes and turned his head to see Thatch peeking in his room. That's the first time that's happened since his stay here.

"Opps," the man said sheepishly. "I forgot. Just give me a minute." He went over to move the desk and placed a hand on the floor and held the board up as he crouched down.

"Why is there a trap door in this room?" Law yawned, rubbing his already messed up hair.

"There's one in every room, or did you not notice how the brats tends to show up anywhere and everywhere at any given time? But this is the only entrance we can use," Thatch said as he stuck his head down. "Good morning, brats."

"Go away," Law heard someone say from beneath, voice laced with sleep. Curious he walked over to get a peek. "You don't like it when we show up in your room unannounced, so don't do that to poor Law, you hypocrite." It sounded like Sabo the closer he got.

"Aww, don't be like that. It's almost time for your shift."

"We know." That one sounded like Ace. He got on his hands and knees to take a peek and saw them in a hammock right under where his bed is. He saw Ace and Sabo glare at the both of them with bleary eyes, with Lu snuggled in between them, still asleep.

"You have thirty minutes to get up and ready," Thatch said, trying to coax them out of bed.

"So?" Sabo dropped his head back down and closed his eyes.

"Lu's not awake yet," Ace followed suit, squishing his face into Lu's back. "We'll come out when he's awake."

"'m awake," Lu mumbled with his face pressed into Sabo's side. "Don't wanna get up. Tired."

"You boys stayed up late again? You really need to stop doing that. Sleep is good for growing kids." They groaned in response.

"So this is where they sleep," Law said thoughtfully. "I just assumed they slept with the rest of the crew. This is interesting." He looked at Thatch questioningly when he was stopped from going down.

"They bobby trapped the place. I wouldn't go down there if I were you."

"Bobby trapped like they do to the rest of the ship? They're harmless," Law tried again but was stopped once more.

"No. Bobby trapped as in, they don't want unwanted visitors. The last time I tried, I was nearly taken out by a hammer, a really big hammer."

"That's because all you commanders know about that door, and the last time we let you all in, you threw a party down here. Everything was trashed, and we had to clean everything," Sabo glared at the man. "Do you know how hard it is to get cleaning supplies in and out of this place? And all those delicate toys that were broken had to be replaced."

"My toys," Lu moaned.

"Sabo's already made new ones, Lu," Ace said.

"Oh, okay. I'm awake now," Lu sat up and waved at the two above him. "Good morning! Come on, Ace, Sabo. We have work. Let's go find birds."

With another groan the other two sat up and rubbed their eyes and got off their hammock. Lu climbed up to the beam right above him and crawled to the other end and did something before coming back. "Wanna come down, Trao?"

"Don't worry. Lu already disengaged the trap. There won't be any sharp objects flying at you," Sabo said when he looked up and saw Law's wary look.

Thatch left as Law climbed down the ladder, the door closing on its own. He looked at the door in interest. _An auto close mechanism._ He thought to himself.

"Spacious," he said as he wondered about their 'room.' There were childish scribbles and drawings hanging on one wall.

"Yeah, well, we did take over three quarters of their cargo hold. This ship is huge. You won't believe how many times we got lost when we first joined," Ace said as he changed his clothes before rummaging through another closet full of dresses. "Lu, come here."

"Aww, I wanna wear Sabo's clothes today," Lu whined, tugging at the end of her too large T-shirt that came down to the thigh of her shorts.

"Should be fine," Sabo said as he eyed Law.

Law averted his eyes as he heard a cheer and walked over to a bookshelf. "You have an interest in medicine?" he asked as he fingered a book.

"I'm interested in everything," Sabo said from next to him. "You want to be a doctor right? You can have those books. I'm done with them. Not sure what you what you already know, but it wouldn't hurt, right?"

Law nodded as he looked at the other titles. "You really are interested in everything," he mused as he saw the all the variety of topics the shelves held; guns, swords, ship building, recipes, history books of various islands, arts, children's books, coloring books, fairy tales, and some journals just to name a few.

"Sabo's teaching me lots of stuff," Lu said as she bounced up to them.

Law took in the clothes the girl had on. Long blue shorts with a small knife strapped on one leg, a small pistol on the other, blue jacket over a white dress shirt, and a neckerchief. "Fancy. The hat clashes though," he said. "You've always wore things like that?" he turned to Sabo. "Looks stifling."

Sabo brought his fists down to his side, wearing an almost identical outfit, but maroon in color. "They're comfortable," he said as if daring Law to say otherwise.

"Looks stifling," Law repeated himself with a smirk.

"Breakfast is ready," Thatch called out from somewhere before Sabo could retort back.

"Amazing. You can hear everything," he said as he listened to the going ons above deck.

"It's because Sabo's smart," Lu said as she took his hand and dragged him towards a ladder and headed up.

"So Sabo-ya's the one to build all this," Law mused as he watched Lu pulled open another door to the galley.

"Blamenco built it. He said he didn't want kids to be playing with dangerous tools. Ace thought of all the ideas. I made the plans," Sabo said as he climbed up and made room for Ace to come up, with the door closing right behind him.

Law bent down to inspect the floor. It was seamless. He couldn't even see where the door opened at and pressed down to see how it worked. It didn't budge. He shrugged it off and followed the trio to their usual bench.

They finished their meal and was just getting up to go to their post when Haruta came by with another man. "Hey, Lu. Could you come to the training room in about an hour? Jonny here needs practice with the sword. I got permission from Marco already. He's the one that suggested it, saying that you'd know how to gauge his strength and adjust. It'd be good training for you too."

"Okay."

"Thanks so much, kid," Jonny said.

"Could I watch?" Law was interested watching swordsmanship training.

"I'd rather you not," Jonny said bashfully. "I'm still no good, and it'd be embarrassing."

"Yeah, no slacking. You're on lookout," Ace pointed out. Since there wasn't much else to do with so many crew members on Moby Dick, Marco had Law follow the same schedule as Ace and Sabo. Leaving Luffy to do whatever else any commander needs him to do. Izo told him he could come to the infirmary during his free time to learn.

Law joined them in the crow's nest after detouring to his room to retrieve his long sword. "So you're a swordsman, Lu-ya?"

"Lu's an all-rounder," Sabo said from his position on the east side. The crow's nest is large enough to hold a table, four chairs and room to hold a few more adults. "Lu's amazing. We've been working on her strenght, so that she can take on someone as strong as Vista one day."

"And working on using Lu's rubber ability. Aim sucks, packs a punch but aim sucks," Ace said from the north. He gave the taller teen a look, "I don't recommend asking for a duel. You'll be sorry," he warned while holding up a flaming fist.

"Right. Dully noted."

An hour later after Lu jumped off the tower, Law finally asked what he's been wanting to know. He couldn't ask before in the week he's been with them because the girl was always with them. "So what is it that Joker-ya wants that you have?"

Sabo hummed and grinned. "You used to be in on everything that goes on in that family of his for a few years, right? I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

"That doesn't seem fair," Law grumbled.

"Hint: we're not really hiding it," Ace grinned.

"You've already seen it," Sabo giggled.

Law couldn't only sigh at the response. If he's already seen it, does it mean it was something in their room? He gave another sigh.

They kept lookout in comfortable silence before Law asked quietly, "Was Lu…was Lu-ya with you when you had to work for that man?"

"Lu…" Ace trailed as his thoughts turned back to the past, voice somber. "Lu's been with them longer than we had. She was with the family for about a year before we met her. Lu was so small back then…"

"Only two, I think. Didn't know a thing about her or her age until we came to Whitebeard," Sabo continued when Ace trailed off once more. "You seem awfully interested in our Lu. You've been keeping careful eyes her since you joined," Sabo grinned. Both he and Ace knew they could trust Law. They could see how much he cares for their brother.

Law shrugged. "I used to have a younger sister. I guess she reminds me of her. Though, my sister wasn't anywhere near as stupid. Made me want to protect her. Big brother instinct, I guess."

"You and everyone else here," Sabo turned back to look at the sea somberly. "Lu doesn't need us to protect her, though. She needs us to protect ourselves. We're important to her, so we have to get stronger so she doesn't need to worry about us."

"Why did you willingly join Joker? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Just curious," Ace said.

Law leaned back and looked to the sky to clear his thoughts. "I was born and raised in Flevance, in North Blue. It was a flourishing island where Amber Lead was mined. What we didn't know was that the Amber Lead that was being mined was poisonous. It was slowly killing the people there. The World Government and the royal family knew about the poisoning but didn't do a thing about it. A neighboring island went to war with Flevance, thinking Amber Lead poisoning was contagious. It wasn't. Everyone was killed. My parents, my sister, my friends, everyone. I was only nine.

"I was done with everything. I wanted to destroy as much of the world as I could before I died from the poison. I estimated that I only had about three years left to live. I escaped by hiding in a pile of corpse that were taken out of the island. I'm not even sure how I did it, but I found the Donquixote Pirates and asked them to let me join." He paused there to collect his thoughts. He continued with a softer tone of voice. "That was where I met Cora-san. Joker-ya's blood brother. Cora-san was actually a marine spy, but Joker-ya didn't know. He was the one to give me the Ope-ope no mi to save my life.

"You know," Law said in thought, "Joker-ya used to brag about this kid he raised. Something about making an army of the brat. He'd bring in kids after kids, sometimes babies, while I was with him. I don't know what he did to them, but they all died without lasting a week. When I asked about that kid he raised once, he told me he sent his boy out to train with two other promising kids. I'm actually surprised that he didn't send those monsters after me."

"Who knows, maybe you'll meet them someday," Ace mumbled with his head perched in his hand.

"Wouldn't want to. I've heard the reports," Law said crossed his arm on the ledge and perched his head on them. "They're ruthless. Nothing but corpse, success rate 100%. Not to say I haven't killed, but those were all in self-defense. These boys are much younger than I am. To be able to kill that many people at such young age is something only someone without moral can do. Or a psychopath."

"Or maybe he wasn't taught any better," Ace said. "You said he was raised by Joker..."

"...maybe he was brainwashed," Sabo finished.

"Maybe," Law sighed.

Ace and Sabo hummed, but didn't say anything else. There was nothing else they can say. They were the monsters he's heard about after all.

"I used to be a noble," Sabo said to clear the uncomfortable silence that fell on them. "I was practically my parent's puppet. I was to be married to the princess of our kingdom to bring up my parent's status. After learning that my parents never really cared about me, just what I could do for them, I ran away to live in a trash heap."

"From riches to rags," Ace laughed. "That's where I met Sabo. I was living with mountain bandits at the time. They were okay. I survived. They let me do what I want and mostly left me alone, unless it was to teach me to hunt so they didn't have to get their own food. From what Gramps said, I guess they cared for us in their own strange way."

"It was during one of our trips to the forest with the bandit leader that we were kidnapped, and well, the rest is history, I guess," Sabo grinned at Law. "Now we have a warm family who cares for us."

"And Lu," Ace said with a lopsided smile, "Lu made my life so much brighter. Even though we met in what has to be hell, Lu just made things better. My dad is Gol D. Roger." He smirked at Law's stunned face. "I used to hate my life and my blood just because of that man. Thought that my life wasn't worth my own mother's life. I should have been the one to die. I was a kid with a death wish, fighting with men three times my size. But Lu didn't care about any of that. He just wanted to stay by my side, no matter how many times I tried to push her away. Whitebeard and Shanks made it all better. It's nice hearing about my dad from people who really knew him. I was used to hearing how much of a monster he was and that he deserved to die. Grandpops told me, 'We're all children of the sea. Who are parents are doesn't matter.'"

"Trust me," Sabo sighed, "it wasn't easy to get him out of that stump. Then we get kidnapped and had to do things we didn't want. We were both ready to kick the bucket and be done with it when they toss us a toddler of all things. Next thing we knew, we had to do what we could to survive just so we could keep Lu safe. Who knew what would have happened to Lu if we were there. The next people who gets her might not take good care of her."

There was a few minutes of silence before Sabo asked another question, "How did your exam go with Izo?"

"Good," Law answered. "Nothing wrong with me, and since I'm only seventeen, Izo-ya told me to just go to Kobato-ya if I ever need medical treatment. 'There aren't enough patients on board for her,' he said."

After their shift was over, they found Jonny asleep in the training room against the wall, with Lu snuggled in his arms.

"Marco was right about Little Lu," Haruta said as he walked up to them. "We just might ask her to help out in here now and then, if you boys don't mind that is."

"We don't mind if Lu doesn't," Ace and Sabo said.

"Unknown ship sighted at 3 o'clock!" their lookout replacement shouted a half hour later as they sat in the training room, waiting for Luffy to wake up. The announcement woke the two sleeping.

"How far?" they heard Whitebeard ask. They all went out to see.

"About 30 minutes away. Black flag," there was a pause as the man strained to see the mark. "A rookie, sorry, I forgot their name."

"Let's wait and see what they want, but be ready for battle."

They didn't have to wait long. As soon as they were close enough, the other ship opened fire, and soon enough, there was a battle on Moby Dick.

Luffy took a seat along the cabin wall with Law doing the same. There were many others that joined them. They weren't all needed and left it to the ones that felt like it. It was how they did things. They gauge how strong the enemy is before sending a few more men to fight.

"You don't wanna fight?" Lu asked Law as he stared at the battle ahead of them.

"Nah. I'll just sit back and watch."

"Hey, Lu," Ace ran over to them with a large smile, "want to help?"

Luffy's eyes widened in understanding and grinned. "Okay? Come on, Trao," he pulled at the other teen's hand.

Unsure of what was going on, Law just followed them to the enemy ship. "Why, pray tell, are we on the enemy's ship?" he grunted as he knocked a man into the sea with his sword still sheathed.

"Treasure hunting," Lu laughed as he stretched his leg and whipped a few others overboard.

"You three go on ahead," Sabo said as he fended off a few of the attackers with a pipe he picked up from being trashed. Luckily, most of the pirates were on Moby, leaving just a few left to guard the ship.

The trio came back up with a large bag each filled to the brim to find Sabo waiting for them.

"What took so long, I was getting bored. Looks like everyone up there is done too."

Lu gave the blond a hug and giggled. "Sorry. I got lost."

"And I'm not surprised," he ruffled the dark hair, knocking the straw hat back. "Let's go back home."

"You boys got everything you want-yoi?" Marco asked once they boarded their ship.

"Yup!" Ace grinned.

"Good. Get rid of that ship-yoi," Marco said as he walked away.

Ace and Sabo shot down a combined Fire Fist at the ship, leaving it to burn in open sea.

Law whistled. "Devil Fruit users too, huh? I thought it wasn't possible to share Devil Fruit powers, or do you both have different Devil Fruit?"

"Same," they both answered. "It was an accident."

"Not sure if it can be replicated or not," Sabo shrugged.

"Let's go to the treasury and split it up. Half of this is for you," Ace said to Law.

"I thought you were getting this for the captain," Law asked as he watched Lu dragged the bag she had over to Thatch and opened it up to show him all the stolen food, before coming back to join them.

"Whitebeard rule: we keep what we plunder," Ace grinned. "You helped, so you get half. You can pick what you want to keep."

"Half seems much, considering there are three of you and one of me."

"The three of us already have our own stash. So don't worry about it," Ace waved it off.

Ace and Law dropped their bags on the floor once they made it in the treasury.

"This is our section," Sabo pointed out a corner filled with gold and other trinkets. He then pointed out sections dedicated to other divisions, while Luffy went around putting a few handfuls of their half into each division, adding more into the Fourth Division.

"What is she doing?" Law asked.

"Well, we figured since we don't really need this much money, we share our loot with the other divisions. Fourth Division gets more since we eat a lot, and that one," Ace pointed to a spot that wasn't designated to any division, "is for Kobato. We're adding funds for her to treat more kids. Our caretakers never had money for our treatment and had to steal medicines and stuff to take care of us, so we know what it's like to not have the money for medicines."

Sabo shuddered. "There were a few times when we weren't sure one or the other would make it because of some bad infections that could easily be fixed with the right treatment."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Another chapter this week! Yay! Let's see if I can get another on out before the weekend is over.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

 _There are three things all wise men fear:  
the sea in a storm,  
a night with no moon,  
and the anger of a gentle man._

 _\- Patrick Rothfuss_

A few days later, Law found himself in a clearing in the middle of a jungle on a deserted island with Lu, starting a fire for their lunch. The island is so small that it took them less than a day to explore. Ace and Sabo went off somewhere to find something to eat, saving whatever Thatch made for them for emergency.

Whitebeard and the rest of crew had been called out by one of the other Yonko for something and thought it'd be safer to leave them behind in case things went bad. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to get involved in one of their battle. Joker worked under Kaido after all.

They were left there with a small ship that belonged to the kids. Ace and Sabo had put up a pirate flag with Whitebeard's mark and their winged ASL symbol over it. Law was quiet surprised to find a the small ship and two other one-person boat when they opened the randomly placed door near the front of the ship of their undersea room.

It's been two days, and they had no idea when Whitebeard would be back for them.

Law looked at Lu as her head suddenly turned to a direction opposite of where Ace and Sabo went. "What's wrong?"

"Two people. That way. Not strong, very weak."

"They're probably lost. As long as they don't bother us, it's fine," Law sighed as he poked the fire once more.

Lu continued to look in that direction and hummed distractedly.

"Something wrong?"

"Just curious."

"Leave them be. It's not a good idea to cause any trouble on a deserted island with just the four of us. None of us can swim. They could have at least left someone with us," Law grumbled. "So how did the three of you get your fruits anyway?" he asked to distract the girl.

Lu told him the whole story of how they met Shanks and stole his treasure box. Law smiled fondly at the excited way she told the story with her arms waving here and there. She was very animated in her story telling. She even went on to tell him her dream to be a Pirate King.

"So that's how they both have the same power. It's very rare for two people to share the same fruit ability. They're probably the only ones," Law said as she finished.

"Ace and Sabo is special," Lu said proudly. "And Grandpops and Pops and Thatch and all the other commanders."

"Is that so?."

"Uh-huh. They know everything, and they don't hate me. I like them. They're special. So I have to protect them."

Now he was curious. "What is this everything they know?" he asked in a way that sounded like it didn't matter. _How can anyone hate you?_ He thought to himself.

But he didn't get his answer. Lu got up and ran in the direction she was looking after yelling she'd be right back. She didn't look too concerned, so he just shrugged and continued to watch over the fire and wait for their lunch to be caught. There were no animals to speak of, but at least Ace and Sabo can fish something. Law really wished Whitebeard left them with someone who could swim.

Left with nothing better to do, he tested his Observation Haki, stretching it as far as he could. Law had learned a little on his own, but with Marco training him, he's improved much quicker than by himself. He found he could almost cover the whole small island. There was a presence that he assumed was Lu moving towards two other that weren't moving. He couldn't find Ace or Sabo anywhere though. Not that it meant much, they were probably out on their ship, too far for him to reach.

He kept trying to find the two anyway. Lu could do it, so why is it he can't? That thought lead to many more questions about the girl. She could do many things that he had no answers for. How is she always able to find Ace and Sabo when they concealed their presence? How does she know if a person is strong or not and gauge their strength? Was she trained like he was with the Daflamingo family members? No, probably not. It sounded like she would have been much too young for that kind of dangerous training.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a yell to run. He looked up to see a young boy wearing only a pair of long shorts running towards him, carrying two much older, unconscious men under his arms. Looks like Lu was wrong. There were three others on the island with them.

Once the boy was within view, he repeated himself. "Run! Fire!"

"Wait. My sis - a girl I'm with is still out there," Law started to run in the direction the three came from, but the boy stuck his foot out and tripped him.

"What are you talking about? There's no one else on this island. Hurry, the fire's spreading fast." The boy gave him a stern look. "Don't make me knock you out too. I don't have enough arms to carry all of you."

Law could feel the heat from the fire by now. It was getting closer. "And where do you suggest we go? This whole island is going to burn down at this rate." He tried his Observation Haki again to try to find Lu, at the same time keeping an eye on the boy, who looked like he was looking for something.

"This way," the boy said before taking off in that direction, not even looking to see if Law followed.

There was only a slight pause before the taller boy cursed and followed behind them. There wasn't much else he could do but to trust the young boy to know what he's doing. He couldn't find Lu, and the fire was spreading too fast. Hopefully she's noticed the fire and went somewhere safe.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Off the island," was all the answer he got.

Law saw Ace and Sabo on the beach with their ship, looking worried. They were already on their way back to the island and saw the smokes.

"On the ship, now," the boy yelled at them.

They looked surprised at first, but did as they were told. "Right," they both answered as they went to work to get the boat ready to set sail again. They'd just gotten back from fishing and had just unloaded their catch on the beach. Law wondered why they were listening to this random kid as he bent over to catch his breath once they reached their boat.

"Lu-ya," he panted. "Lu-ya is still on the island. We have to find her."

"Later, Trao," Sabo grunted as he pulled the sail in position. "Push the boat off."

"Your sister is still on the island, and you're going to leave her behind just because some random brat says to leave?!" he yelled at them, furious that he had misjudged them.

Ace and Sabo stopped what they were doing to look at him. They gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks for worrying about, Lu," Ace said. "We'll explain as soon as we're far enough that flying flames don't burn our ship. Lu is safe. We promise."

He didn't quite understand why they weren't worried, but if they say she's safe, then he'll have to believe them until they explained.

Once they were deemed at a safe distance, they watched in silence as the island burned.

"Sabo," the boy whined on top of the two still unconscious men, "I'm cold."

"You know this kid?" Law jabbed a thumb towards the kid as Sabo placed his jacket over the boy's bare shoulder.

"Of course," Sabo grinned. "So do you. Look at him _very_ carefully."

Law studied the boy that was staring right back at him with wide innocent eyes and big bright smile. He does look somewhat familiar. Looking the boy up and down, he noticed a very familiar knife and pistol strapped to his thighs. Though, now that he was really looking, how could he have missed the scar under the left eye? "Lu-ya?" he asked in disbelief.

The boy grinned at him and snickered.

"Trao, meet our brother Luffy, also known as Lu," Ace grinned mischievously.

"Please explain," Law moaned in his hands. All the worry and stress finally left his body, leaving him tired and exhausted from all that excitement.

"Oh!" Luffy exclaimed as he peered over the side of the boat.

"Hey, be careful," Law yelled at him as he pulled the boy back. "None of us can swim."

"I have an idea," Luffy sang, walking towards their small than usual cannon.

"What are you doing?" Law asked warily, but it was too late. Ace and Sabo pulled him down as the boat rocked violently. If they hadn't been surrounded by the tall walls of the boat, they might have fallen off the side.

Law's eyes widen in shock as a large sea king surfaced, looking very angry. His voice caught in his throat when Luffy stretched to pull the angry sea creature's whiskers and brought it close to his face.

Law felt an invisible wave of some sort wash over him as the boy demanded the sea king to put out the fire, lest they eat it. The sea king looked at the boy in fear before going back under and swam towards the island. It came back up so quickly that some of the ocean sprayed onto the island, and it flipped its tail a few times, sending large waves over the island, and the fire was put out.

"Thank you," Luffy waved cheerily at its cowering form.

"Conqueror's Haki," Law breathed in awe.

"Look," Luffy pointed at the island, "we can go back now."

"What's with these two?" Sabo asked as he pulled one off the boat.

"Shipwreck," Luffy answered from his seat on a rock. "Floated on a piece of wood and landed here this morning. They wanted to do a smoke signal but messed up. They ran all over the place and wouldn't calm down, so I hit them. Dress caught on fire." He pouted. "I'm hungry."

"Everything we caught went up in flames, and it's too late to fish some more. Good thing Thatch packed us a lot of food." Ace got up to bring back some food from the boat.

One of the men groaned and sat up with a hand to his head. The first thing that caught his eyes was the black pirate flag. It was the flag of the notorious ASL monsters. This was the first time he'd heard they were affiliated with Whitebeard though. He'd heard what they did at that one marine base. He squeaked and looked to his left, where three boys watched him with varied amusement.

"Hello there," the blond waved at him, "how nice of you to wash up on our island. Though it wasn't very nice of you to burn it down." The man turned to see the rest of the island behind the boy. There was nothing left but burned down stumps and twigs.

The man tapped at his companion, waking him up in the process, just as Ace came back with food.

"We don't have enough food for them too," the boy said to his brothers. "Looks like we only have enough for four more days, if we don't catch anything."

"I can share," the youngest offered.

"No," the other yelled at him, causing the boy to flinch.

"But they're hungry too," the boy pouted.

Ace and Sabo sighed. "Fine, they can have some of ours. You have to eat everything though," Ace said as he split the food. "And? What happened to you?"

"We…we were on a cruise ship when a storm capsized the ship," one explained nervously.

"A civilian?" Law asked.

"Not only that," Sabo muttered darkly, "nobles. They're the only civilians that can afford to board a cruise ship. Just take a look at their clothing, and you can tell."

"Looks like something you would wear," Law stated.

"Exactly," Sabo spat as he stood up. They all watched as he slowly walked over to the two men and pointed his staff at them. "Don't even think of trying any funny business. I know how you people think. If I feel that you are a threat to my brothers, I won't think twice of killing you."

"Want to tie them up after they finish eating?" Ace asked once Sabo went back to his seat between him and Luffy. He knew that having nobles near them upsets his brother.

"If," one of the men stuttered, "if you could just drop us off at an island with civilization, it would be much appreciated."

"Can't," Law said.

"We'll pay you," the other joined. "Your small boat is big enough for us all. We'll even pay you any amount you want. We can even pay for the damages to your island."

Luffy gave them a sad look. "Money isn't going to bring the plants back. Not our island anyway. We're just here waiting."

"If you don't want money, what do you want? We'll give it to you," they were sounding desperate at this point. "All you have to do is take us to the next island."

"I just said we can't," Law bit out before sighing. "We don't have a Log Pose. All we have is an eternal pose that's set to go back to the main ship." Law still doesn't how that was possible. "I don't think you'd want that, especially if they left us here because they're doing something dangerous. You'll have to wait until they come and pick us up."

That had the men quiet. No, they did not want to meet the strongest man in the sea. They were going to have to find another way off the island themselves. They eyed the youngest, who had started eating before the food was finished being divvied, as an idea formed.

Luffy put his drumstick down slowly and turned his head to the two men with a glare, just as Ace was handing them their plates. "Ace, don't waste food," he said with a serious voice. "Greedy people don't deserve to eat."

"Huh? You were the one that didn't want them to starve," Ace said as he turned to look at his brother.

Before anyone could say anything, one of the noble lounged at Ace, only to pass through flames and catch himself on fire.

"Well, what do you know?" Sabo grinned at the other man who had a horrified look as he watched his friend scream and roll around to put himself out. "Their true colors didn't stay hidden very long, now did it?"

"Should I put that guy out his misery?" Ace asked no one in particular as he eyed the flaming man in the sand. He held his hand out with his thumb up and pointing finger aimed at the guy.

"Yes, please," Law said, perturbed that the three brothers weren't put off by the bloodcurdling screams. "If you don't, I will."

They watched and waiting for Ace to put the guy out of his misery, only to find out their brother fell asleep before he could.

"Ace," Sabo moaned with his hand to his face, "you have horrible timing. Trao, could you take care of them while I wake Ace up?"

The oldest hesitating a moment too long for Luffy. Getting tired of the noise coming from the burning man, Luffy took his pistol out of his holster and fired at the man, killing him instantly.

"You took too long," the youngest explained at the look Law gave him. "He was noisy."

The sound of gunfire woke Ace up, and he fired as if he didn't fall asleep, causing his fire bullet to go right through Sabo. "Opps, sorry, Sabo."

"Lucky it was me," Sabo smacked Ace on the back of his head. "You fell asleep again."

Too shocked to do or say anything, Law just gave up and ate his lunch.

The other man just sat there, shivering from fear, and watched them go on as if the smallest kid hadn't just killed someone. This time Sabo walked up to him with a scowl and a plate in his hand. "I'm only giving you this because I feel sorry for you, but this is all you get," he said and dropped the plate, causing everything to fall off the plate and onto the sand.

The man couldn't believe it. He's a noble. There's nothing to be afraid of. He's a noble, and everyone should bow down to him. His friend didn't make it because he didn't use his status right. His friend didn't deserve the title of noble.

"You know, kid, I can give you everything you'd ever wanted. I can even make you a noble, where you'll be rich and wouldn't have to work for the rest of your life," man sneered, knowing that most people would fall for it. "All you have to do is take me home, and I can give you everything."

Sabo turned around slowly and gave the man the most pleasant smile he could muster. "My former status had me up there to marry the princess of my kingdom. I have no need for your sorry excuse of a status. Anyway, I gave up my noble status a long time ago. What would I do with riches? Money can't buy me a warm family. Sure, I'd always have food to keep me alive, but what about my freedom? I don't like going around watching how I walk or talk. A golden cage is just a cage. Besides, being a pirate is better than being a noble any day. If there's anything we want, we take it." With that Sabo turned about around to walk away.

The noble man was pissed that his plan didn't work. He was even more sore about the fact that this pirate child's noble status was much higher than his. But the kid gave up his status, right? That means it wouldn't matter what happens to the kid. With his anger clouding his thoughts, he picked up a broken branch that was laying next to him. Before he could even lift his arm to stab the blond teen, a knife came for his throat.

Law looked down to Lu next to him and saw cold furry in the boy's eyes.

"Thanks, Lu," Sabo said, ruffling the kid's hair, "but I could have handled it."

The cold look left Luffy's eyes, and he went on eating happily.

"You owe me a lot of explanations," Law said as he set is empty plate to the side, now satisfied.

"Not much to explain," Ace said.

"We let Lu wear what he wants," Sabo continued. "Sometimes he likes to wear dresses. Other times, he wears our old clothes. We decided to have some fun and see how long it'd take you to figure him out. We like pranking new members, so it's not the first time we've done this. The other prank was to pretend we were ghosts haunting the ship."

"And the whole ship was in on it?"

"Yup!" they both grinned. "And we lost the bet."

"There was a bet going on?" Law scowled. "How long did you bet on?"

"A week," Sabo sighed as he fingered the dirt. "Thought you were smarter than that, but then you had to go and hide on bath days."

Law remembered the first one. Someone covered his eyes from behind him when he heard the boys yelling and running around. It was an odd sight once he was released. Almost half the crew on deck had some sort of dress or towel in their hands. He shook his head when Lu yelled at the brothers for forgetting clothes once again. After that, he just stayed in his room until he was sure they were done.

"Does he always do that, or did you let him run around naked to win your bet?"

"He always does that," Ace sighed as he got up to clear their plates. "Not sure how he forgets his own clothes. The first thing he does is put on the stupid hat and runs out, as if that's all he needs to wear. It's to the point that most of the crew carries clothes and towels on bath days."

"Lu-ya," Law turned to Luffy, "you do understand that dresses are for girls, right? You're a boy. You shouldn't be wearing a dress."

"They are?" Luffy tilted his head. "But I like them. I can't wear them anymore?"

There was a pause as Law looked into Luffy's watery eyes and sighed. "Never mind. I was lying. You can still wear them."

Luffy let out a cheer as Ace and Sabo chuckled at him. "It's hard to say no to him, isn't it?" they both said.

Ace then let out a sigh as Sabo to glared at the two dead men. "Lu, could you bury those guys or maybe toss them somewhere far from here? We're going to wash the dishes."

Luffy bounced up to grab the two bodies up to their ship, "I'm gonna feed the big fish. He put out the fire for us."

"I would love an explanation for that also," he said, pointing to Luffy's retreating back.

They looked at him with wary expression. Then they looked at each other before getting up and walking over to where the bodies had been.

"Help us cover that up," Sabo waved at the blood stained ground, "and finish the dishes. We have time before Lu gets back."

There was a moment of silence as they set about kicking the sands around the blood before Ace spoke. "Lu doesn't like it when we're being threatened. He's so clueless as to what is going on around him, until that happens. It's like half the time his mind doesn't even register that he's danger, but if he's being used against us, that's when he snaps. It's what they used to do. They punish Lu in order to punish us. Lu's always the one they turn to in order to get us to listen to them."

"We try to run, and they punish Lu. We try to protect him, and they punish him. We mess up on our assignments, and they punish him. It was always him, and Lu knows it hurts us even though he's the one in physical pain," Sabo said with a heavy sigh.

Law was silent as they set about to finish the dishes after they were sure the blood was no longer visible, unsure where this was all going.

And then Ace resumed talking, "You know, we thought he was just some annoying brat they dropped on us at first. But he grew on us, and we couldn't help but to want to protect him. Raise the kid, they told us. How did they expect us to raise a kid when we were kids ourselves? We could barely take care of ourselves, let alone a crybaby."

"When they first sent the toddler out on a mission with us, we thought we were doing the kid a favor and protected him from everything. Of course when things got rough, he saved our asses. I still remember that day. There were too many of them, and we were surrounded. Then Luffy jumped right in front of us and bit a man's hand and stole his gun. We didn't do much but watch that whole battle. He didn't even need us to back him up. He just went around gunning them one after the other, never wasting a bullet. After emptying the pistol, he picked up a sword from a dead body," Sabo shuddered.

"We don't know what Doflamingo did to him, but Luffy's able to imitate any fighting style he's seen. It doesn't matter if it's sword, gun, or hand to hand, he can imitate them after watching them use it once. He wasn't good with hand to hand until recently because he had no muscles to back it up, but he was good at imitating the moves. And he never misses with a gun." Ace looked at Law with a strained grin. "Do you understand yet?"

"Joker-ya wants Lu-ya," Law surmised after he thought about what he's heard.

"That's right," Sabo nodded as he rinsed his stack of dishes. "You have nothing to fear of those monsters you talked about to come after you, because we're finally free. After hearing all that, are you scared? Of us? Of Lu?"

"No. Though I'm curious as to Lu-ya's ability," Law said thoughtfully.

"Lucky you," Ace softly. "He scares us. We've known him since he was tiny, but he scares us. Not scared that he'd do anything to us, but scared that we wouldn't be strong enough to stop him if we have to."

Sabo placed a hand on Ace's should in comfort. "That's why we have to get stronger. Strong enough to stop him if he should ever need us to. Everything we've told you, only Whitebeard and the commanders know. No one else knows. Everyone else just thinks that Luffy is a talented kid. Most of the crew knows we were once slaves, and that's it. It's what I like about this crew. They don't ask questions."

"You know," Law said after they finished and sat around waiting for Luffy, "everyone's going to think you two did this." He gestured to the burned island.

The two boys moaned just as Luffy sailed back, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** My allergies...I think it's trying to kill me. No amount of meds are working. I'm already taking everything my allergist prescribed to me, and he said that's the most I can take. On top of that, I feel like allergy shots are not working. Bah. Allergy season this year sucks! And my allergy is year round. T_T

On another note, Law finally learns about Luffy. Sorry it wasn't as funny as you'd hoped when Law found out Luffy wasn't a girl. 。७﹏७ 。


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

 _Sometimes you have just need to  
relax and trust that things  
will work out. Let go a little  
and let life happen._

 _\- unknown_

Upon seeing the island where they left the four teens, Marco heaved a sigh and covered his eyes with his hand in exasperation. Meanwhile, behind him, the rest of the crew were laughing and making bets as to how the beautiful lush, green island became a lump of charred sand and dirt with burned down stumps. By the sounds of it, it wasn't much of a bet. Everyone had already assumed Ace and Sabo burned the place down while practicing a new attack or something involving the two.

They had originally planned to call the boys over the Den Den Mushi and have them come back to the ship on their own, but Whitebeard decided to just detour back around pick them up.

Now? Now ... Marco wished they'd just call the brats back so he didn't have to see the destruction.

He could see the kids in the distance standing at the beach, only one seemed excited to see them. He could easily identify each of his kids. Luffy, bouncing up and down, while waving both of his arms around; Ace, looking grumpy with his arms crossed; Sabo, the only blond of the group, crouched on the sandy beach with his hands in his hair; and Law, the tallest of the four, holding onto Luffy's straw hat that the kid probably didn't realize he dropped, smirking. That's right. Marco has already decided in his mind that Law was one of his children, not that he's going to tell anyone, and if Law decides to call him Pops too, he's not going to argue it. He highly doubt the oldest teen would call him Pops, though.

Moby Dick anchored a distance away, coming as close as they could without getting beached. The boys knew they couldn't bring the ship any closer, so Marco wondered why they were taking their time getting on their boat and coming back.

Marco crossed his arms as the boys made their way up to the deck after docking their boat back inside the larger ship. "Well-yoi?" Marco asked the two flame users amidst a chuckling crew.

"It wasn't our fault," they both answered, Ace with a scowl, and Sabo with a pleasant smile.

Marco raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"You see," Sabo started, "there were these two nobles that got washed ashore on the other side of the island this morning."

"They were on a cruise ship," Ace helped explain.

Law stood by, smirking as he listened to the two take turns, desperately trying to explain how the island burned and how it wasn't their fault. Luffy latched himself onto Marco the minute he saw his Pops.

"Apparently, the cruise ship capsized or something in a storm, and that's how they got on the island."

"They got this stupid idea to start a fire to signal somebody or something."

"It somehow got out of control, and Luffy saved them."

"His dress caught on fire."

"So he had to take it off."

"Law found out Luffy's a boy."

"We saw a lot of smoke coming from the island,"

"So we turned our ship back to the island."

"We were just getting off the ship from fishing,"

"And see Luffy and Trao running out of the forest."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Thatch held up a hand to stop them from continuing. "You two were out fishing while all that was happening?" The two nodded. "Okay. Continue."

"Anyway - stop laughing! You're not helping!" Sabo said to Law.

"I'm not laughing, but please, do continue with your story," Law gave him an amused grin.

Sabo scowled at him, "Anyway, Luffy was carrying the two idiot nobles."

"And told us to get back on the ship."

"We had to take our ship out to sea,"

"to get away from the fire."

"All the fish we caught burned with the island."

"Luffy fired a canon ball right in the ocean."

"A Sea King came out."

"Luffy told it to put out the fire."

"And that's how the island burned," they both concluded. "It's true!" they insisted at Marco's look of disbelief.

"And where are these two nobles-yoi?" Marco asked skeptically.

"Dead," Sabo huffed with his arms crossed and looked away.

"They threatened us," Ace growled.

"The body?" Whitebeard grinned. He and the rest of them didn't believe what sounded like a tall tale.

"I fed it to the Sea King for helping us put out the fire," Luffy said, smiling happily. He then unlatched himself from Marco to go to the side of the ship and looked over the rail and released a small amount of haki.

A large Sea King came up with a lump on it's head, looking completely cowed.

Everyone, including Marco and Whitebeard dropped their jaws in shock, realizing the two boys had most likely told the truth.

Law took Luffy and walked away, laughing at the crew's gobsmacked expression.

"Told you so," Ace and Sabo said with their arms behind their heads before following their two brothers down to their room.

"So Law finally found out Luffy's not a girl?" Vista managed to say.

Marco only managed to heave a loud sigh and look to Whitebeard, "I give up. I don't understand those kids-yoi. How can anyone get into so much trouble without lifting a finger?"

-*/-*/-*/

Almost a year later, the four boys were under the ship doing their own things. Law reclining on a bench lined with soft bear fur, studying a book Izo gave him. Sabo tinkering away on a new project. Ace listening to Luffy reading a children's book.

Ace and Sabo invited Law to move in with them after they came back from the island. Knowing that the older teen didn't hate them and weren't afraid of them after telling him everything, they decided that he's now one of them. Actually, they didn't give him a choice and moved his things for him.

Luffy trailed off in his reading and sat still for a moment, as if listening for something. The others followed suit, straining their ears to hear what their brother heard. All they can hear is the usual commotion from the upper level.

"Shanks," Luffy whispered before he cheered louder. "Shanks is coming. Shanks is almost here!"

They followed him in his rush to get upstairs and to the figurehead. Law's been with them for a year already, and this is the first time he'd be meeting another Yonko besides Whitebeard. He could tell Lu was excited as he fidgeted where he sat on the figurehead and stared straight ahead, waiting to see Red Force.

The boy's excitement was contagious as the rest of the ship readied themselves for the Red Hair Pirates. All that chanting from him was all the warning they needed of the approaching ship.

Once the pirate ship was close enough, the three older boys panicked when Luffy stretched his arms to reach the rails of the other ship. The three of them grabbed hold of him to stop him, only to be flung across the sea and land in a lump of tangled limbs on the other deck.

Once Law was able to stop the spinning in his head and his vision cleared, he tensed up when he noticed a group of unknown me surround them. He glared at them as one took a step closer. Then something under him moved, causing him to grunt and the other two to moan in pain.

Luffy's head finally made it out from under the three of them. He looked up at the crowd and smiled at them. "Hi," he giggled, "I'm stuck."

"We all are, no thanks to you," Ace groaned, his head sticking out in a corner under Law.

"Trao, move," came Sabo's muffled protest. His head was nowhere in sight, with only his feet peeking out from under Luffy's stretched out head. "Your sword is somewhere unpleasant, and Ace, you're heavy." Sabo squawked when Law rolled himself off the pile and to the side, pulling his sword along with him.

Once they were free, Luffy ran over to one of men and gave him a hug. "Ben! Ben! Where's Shanks?"

The man pointed towards the cabin, "Nursing another hangover. Why don't you go wake him up, kid?"

Luffy cheered and ran towards where he knew the captain's room was.

"A who's this?" the tall man with long grey hair, Ben, asked the boys.

"Our new brother," Sabo said.

"Trafalgar Law," Law greeted them, before they heard the unmistakable crying of Luffy. He placed his hand over the hilt of his sword and glared at the cabin door. "Your captain better not have done anything to Lu," he growled as the two other brothers looked like they wanted run to check on their youngest brother.

"He must have seen the captain's new scar," Benn laughed, unworried.

They all turned their head to the cabin door when they heard laughing. Law watched as the red haired captain emerged with Luffy in his arm. Shanks laughing at the boy. "I'm fine. Really. Look, it's already healed."

Luffy only sniffed as he nodded, having been calmed down.

"It's good to see you two again," Shanks greeted the boys as he set Luffy down. "You three sure have grown. Sixteen now?" The boys grinned in answer. "Who's this?"

"Trao," Luffy hugged Law, trapping both his arms.

"Trafalgar Law," he corrected the boy.

Shanks hummed as he looked at Law. "Can't believe the old man took on another kid."

"I'm not a kid," Law protested. "I'm eighteen."

Shanks laughed at patted him on the head. "Still a kid to me."

"What happened?" Ace said, looking at the scar that went across the man's left eye.

"I'll tell you later," Shanks winked at them.

Once they all boarded Moby, Marco grabbed Luffy by the scuff of Ace's old T-shirt. "Don't you ever dare do that again-yoi. You scared the shit out of us. What if you fell in the sea? Not one of you can swim. Or did you forget that-yoi," yelled at the boy.

"Aww, but Pops," Luffy whined.

"No, buts. You would have seen Akagami without having to pull that stunt-yoi."

"I don't think reprimanding him is going to work," Sabo sighed in defeat, knowing that Luffy will just do what he wants.

Law grunted when Marco carelessly tossed Luffy to him. "My sister is a heart attack waiting to happen," he repeated what Haruta first told him.

"They told me Luffy was a boy," Shanks said as he studied the boy in Law's arm.

"He is. But my first impression was him in a dress, and they got the whole ship to prank me into thinking Lu-ya was a girl for a good two weeks," Law explained. "Therefore, Lu-ya is my sister. He doesn't seem to mind."

"A walking heart attack, huh? I think it fits him perfectly," Shanks laughed.

"You have Haruta-ya to thank for that," Law put Luffy down. The boy had grown, but he still was light. "That was the first thing they told me about him. Pretty accurate, I'd say."

"Why are you here?" Marco crossed his arms as he asked tiredly, even though he eyed the man's scared eye. "It's not the boys' birthday, and you've already missed a few-yoi."

"To see your captain, of course," Shanks answered cheerfully, before his arm was tugged by Luffy.

"Shanks, look!" Luffy placed his hat over his head and tugged the back of his shirt down so the man could look at his back. In between his shoulder blades was their ASL symbol, the size of an average person's palm. "Ace drew it! I'm going to get a tattoo like that."

Shanks looked at the drawing before laughing. "That strange wanted poster was you three? Of course, why didn't I realize it before? You have to tell me the story behind that raid on the Marine base. First, let me talk to your Grandpops, okay?"

As soon as he greeted the ship's captain, Shanks took a seat on the deck in front of the large man and started talking. He told them of his encounter with Blackbeard Teach. How the man used his Shichibukai title to enter Impel Down and freed some of the Level 6 prisoners to be in his crew. That information was never released to the public. It was something he learned from Garp through an encrypted message, since Garp is no longer free to sail about as he pleased since he's now put in charge of training new recruits. The government had taken away the traitor's title after that stint. Now his bounty is set at 300 million beli.

Since then, Blackbeard has been going around terrorizing islands and rookie pirates. It was on one of those islands that Shanks crossed his path, and that was how he got the scars over his eye. Shanks wanted to warn Whitebeard and his crew of how dangerous Teach has gotten.

"I don't know how strong he was when he sailed under you, but with his new ability from the Devil Fruit he stole, he's a dangerous man," Shanks told them. "Yami Yami no Mi is truly fearsome, even more so against a Devil Fruit user. He can nullify the person's ability when he touches them, rendering their ability useless. He can even absorb an attack. I've seen him suck in a small town into a black hole and spit it back out completely destroyed."

"Luffy," Marco looked at the boy sitting on the red-hair's lap, "what did you think of Teach's strength when he was here-yoi?"

"Strong," Luffy answer as he tilted his head, "very strong. Like Thatch and Jozu."

Marco nodded in understanding. "So as strong as a commander, and he somehow hid his strength from us. And this was before the Devil Fruit-yoi."

"Dangerous indeed," Whitebeard said to himself before talking to everyone there. "We will fight if we have to, but we will avoid him if we can for the time being. After we get more information, we can make plans, but for now, we will leave him."

Shanks nodded gratefully. While he may be confident that Whitebeard can take on Teach, but with his slowly deteriorating health, he didn't want to risk losing Whitebeard. Losing one Yonko could just throw the seas into chaos. Especially with how much power Whitebeard hold. If they lose the man, so many islands would be in danger. That's just something the world cannot afford, no matter what the government thinks. He just hopes the one IV the older man is set up on won't turn to two or three anytime soon.

"Oh, yeah. I was wondering if I could spend some time with the boys. You know, with how many birthdays I missed, I kind of want to make it up," the red-haired Yonko said.

Whitebeard laughed as the tension in the air disappeared. "Only if they agree. What did you have in mind?"

"Actually, I was hoping to have them on my ship for a few weeks and maybe stop by an island, just to take them out and stuff."

"That sounds interesting," Sabo said, looking to their captain. "We've only met bad pirates before you, Grandpops. I'd like to spend some time with another peaceful pirate."

Luffy cheered, while both Ace and Law looked skeptical. It was one thing with this crew, who knows more about their youngest brother, it's another thing with another who's never actually seen their brother in action. They worried what the other Yonko would think if anything should happen.

Sabo was also worried about the same thing, but he thought it'd be a good thing for Luffy to learn more about life outside of Whitebeard. He was only thinking about broadening Luffy's experience, especially if his brother wants to be a Pirate King. That means leaving them one day, and he wants to make sure Luffy would be prepared for anything and everything. The first thing he's going to have to learn is to be around people that aren't part of their ridiculously huge family.

Sure, Luffy likes Shanks, but he rarely interacted with the rest of the Red Hair crew, other than Ben. Sabo will talk to the other two about it when they get a chance. They were lucky he was attached to Law before he became part of the family, but that could be because Luffy could tell that Law was like them, wanting to be free from his tormentor.

"If those three are going, then so am I," Law said with determination. He turned to look at his captain. "I'll make sure they don't cause too much trouble. I've already learned what I can from Kobato-ya, so I can also double as their temporary doctor."

"I'm going too-yoi," Marco crossed his arms. "The last time we left the four of you alone, you burned down an entire island."

"Not our fault," both fire users yelled.

"And that makes it worse-yoi," Marco deadpanned.

"Then maybe I should go too," Haruta said. "Law complained about not having anyone that could swim with them that time."

"Me too," Thatch offered. "Someone has to feed these brats right."

More of the commanders joined in with excuses of wanting to go with the boys which, then in turn, cause the rest of the crew to make up excuses for wanting to go.

"And the next thing we know, we'll have all of Whitebeard Pirates on our ship," Benn huffed.

Whitebeard laughed. "Only Marco goes. They have plenty of nonusers on their ship. They'll be fine. Thatch, give their cook a run down on what the boys need. That should suffice." The large man turned to Shanks with a twinkle in his eyes. "As you can see, if you let anything happen to the boys, you'll have the whole crew on you."

Shanks laughed it off. "What could possibly happen? I'll be with them the whole time. They'll be fine."

"That's what you think," Izo muttered under his breath. Everyone near him that heard shook their head in exasperation. They know of all the troubles the boys have gotten into. It wasn't just the Marine base that gave the boys their first bounty. The trio and Law had a few other run ins with the marines and a few other pirates that caused the ASL bounty to go up since then.

They were all packed and ready to board Red Force by evening. It was already late by the time the ships separated.

The boys and Marco were shown to their rooms so they could turn in for the night. Ace and Sabo shared a room across from Law and Luffy, while Marco had the room next to theirs. Benn had to explain to a complaining Sabo that Red Force doesn't have a bed big enough for them to sleep together on, nor a room big enough for that kind of bed.

An hour later Luffy walked over to Law's bed with his pillow hugged tightly against his chest. "Trao."

"What?" Law turned to look at his sister.

"My bed is cold," Luffy whined.

"Yeah, mine too." Law got up and gathered his pillow and blanket before taking Luffy by the hand and led him to the room across from theirs. He opened the door slowly as to not wake the two inside, and they both slipped in.

As soon as Luffy found his other two brothers huddled together on the floor, he quietly lifted their shared blanket and snuggled in between them. The two sleeping forms unconsciously made room for him, while Law took his place next to Ace.

After being invited to the trio's safe haven below Moby Dick, he felt more comfortable sleeping with them than being alone. After being alone for so long, it was a nice feeling to be with others, even though he had no memories of ever sleeping in the same room as someone else, not even with his sister when he lived with his parents. It was something he regretted after spending time with Luffy and his brothers.

Marco smiled softly at the image upon opening the door the next morning. Luffy had ended up sprawled out with his head on Sabo's stomach and his legs over Ace and Law. He could tell from their expression that the older three weren't comfortable.

Shanks scratched his head in confusion next to Marco. "Well, I guess we could move three beds together, or something."

"Ace, Sabo, and Luffy share a hammock," Marco said. "They've slept together for as long as Luffy can remember-yoi. Law has one set up right next to them. They maybe teenagers, but I don't think the trio will ever outgrow this-yoi."

Law stirred and blearily opened his eyes, looking towards the adults. He shoved Luffy's leg off him and sat up to stretch. "It's more comfortable this way," he said sleepily as he scratched his head.

"I don't see how the floor is comfortable," Shanks said amused.

"Not the floor, but I've slept on worse," Law went to shake Ace.

"So has the other three," Marco muttered, remembering the cell where they first met.

"Five more minutes, Sabo," Ace waved Law's hands away.

"I'm not Sabo-ya, and it's time to wake up," Law said as he worked to pick a limp Luffy up and nudged his foot at Sabo. "Sabo-ya, wake up, and wake Ace-ya up too. I'm taking Lu-ya." He carried his sister passed the two adults and towards the bathroom to get the kid started on their morning ritual.

Sabo rolled over on his stomach and poked Ace's face. "Aaaace, wake up," he said tiredly. His brother just groaned and rolled in the other direction. "If you don't hurry, Lu's gonna eat all our breakfast."

That got the dark haired brother to get up and run out the door and pass Marco and Shanks. "Save me some food too!" Sabo called out tiredly, before falling back into his pillow.

"Is this normal?" Shanks asked Marco.

Marco shrugged. "Never seen them wake up before. They sleep in their hideout under the ship." He walked over to Sabo get him to wake up properly.

It took the four of them only ten minutes to join the rest of the Red Force in the galley, not one of them looking as tired as they did when they woke up.

"We should make you brats sleep in your room more often-yoi," Marco gave them a sleepy grin.

"Why?" Sabo asked as he took a seat next to the man.

"Watching you four waking up is entertaining," Shanks said from in front of him.

"Oh yeah," Ace turned to Law, "What were you guys doing in our room?"

"What were you two doing sleeping on the floor?" was Law's nonchalant answer. "Lu-ya said his bed was cold. I agreed with him. So we went where it's warmer."

"Oh? What are you wearing today, kid?" Benn asked as he took a seat next to his captain.

Luffy stood up on his bench to show off his new dress. "Trao gave it to me. It's pretty, and look," he pointed to his new hair accessory, a small clip with a simple flower.

"Another one?" Sabo peered at it. This is the third one Law has bought for the boy. The other two were carefully clipped to the red ribbon on his straw hat.

"Bought it a while ago but forgot about it. Found it in my bag this morning."

"You three spoil him too much-yoi," Marco said.

"Not as much as the Moronic Duo," Law pointed his fork at Ace and Sabo.

"Hey!" They both yelled.

"Oh? So you like Jozu-ya's name better? Bro-con combi?" The two growled at Law, while Luffy giggled at them.

"I think it's cute," Shanks said with his head on his hand. "Luffy's a lucky kid to have you three as dotting brothers."

"It's not just those three," Marco moaned. "The whole ship-yoi. It's the whole damn ship. You should see bath day. Everyone has clothes ready for when the kid runs out of the bath. Most of the crew bought clothes for him-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

Bath day caught the entire Red Hair pirates by surprise. They really weren't sure what to expect when they first heard about how bath day went on Moby Dick. Really, they thought the five Whitebeard Pirates were just joking with them.

They found out how wrong they were when Luffy streaked across the deck of Red Force wearing nothing but his straw hat on his head. Marco was ready though. He held open a large towel, ready for the boy to run into his arms for a hug. The First Division Commander went onto dry the giggling boy off once he was in his arms.

Shanks shook his head. "You guys weren't joking, were you? He really does come running out with nothing on."

The other three boys ran over to Luffy a few moments later with various clothes in their arms.

"Luffy," Sabo whined tiredly, "you forgot you clothes again. We're not home. You really shouldn't do that."

"Just imagine him doing that in town," Law grinned as he handed Marco Luffy's underwear.

Ace paled at that thought. "No bath in town. We're never going to do that. Who knows what kind of people are out there."

Yasopp laughed at them. "You boys seriously suck at this whole bathing kids thing. Though, he's not a kid anymore," he mused as he eyed Luffy. "You should teach him to bath himself. What is he going to do once he goes off on his own?"

The trio glared at him, all with tired expression.

"Why don't you try it?" Ace and Sabo challenged.

"Oh, that's a great idea," Law said. "Let's make a bet out of it. I bet you can't get Lu-ya dried before she leaves the bathroom."

"To make it easier, you can have as many people as you want to help," Sabo said.

"Deal," Yasopp grinned. How hard could it be to get the kid dried and dressed? His wife does it all the time, and he's never heard her complain about it.

They found out two days later. Yasopp roped Lucky and Benn to help. The end result was the same as usual; Luffy running across the deck, sopping wet with nothing but his hat.

The trio and Marco laughed at the three Red Hair pirates when the walked out of the bathroom soaking wet and panting as if they had ran a marathon.

"How the hell do you do it? He doesn't even stay still in there. Bathing the kid is like a workout on it's own," Yasopp complained.

"Practice," Law, Ace, and Sabo said.

"It's a lot easier now with Trao helping us," Sabo said.

"Yeah. Before, we couldn't even finish his bath, and he'd run out with shampoo still in his hair," Ace said.

"So, how did he manage to leave with nothing on?" Shanks said as he tried to hold back a laugh.

"The first thing the damn brat did was put on his hat and declared he was dressed and ran off before we could stop him," Benn sat his soggy self down and leaned his back on the rail.

"Why are you in a hurry to leave the bathroom anyway?" Yasopp asked.

"To play," Luffy stated as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"You guys win. What do you want?" Yasopp sighed in defeat.

"A new dress for Lu-ya," Law said.

"New shoes for Luffy," Ace said.

"Lu needs new books," Sabo said. "What? I'm not letting my brother grow up stupid." He added at the looks the others gave him.

"I think you guys should be called the Moronic Trio, rather than a Duo. All you guys think about is the shrimp," Rock Star laughed as he walked passed the group.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Halfway done~ Just another 12-14 more chapters, depending on how I split them up. I hope I finish putting them all up soon.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 _The sad thing is, nobody ever really  
knows how much anyone else  
is hurting. We could be standing  
next to somebody who is  
completely broken,  
and we wouldn't know it._

 _\- unknown_

After breakfast the next day Marco found the boys one Luffy short. "Where's Luffy-yoi?"

"No idea," both Ace and Sabo shrugged before turning their attention back to their card game.

"Rockstar said he wanted to teach Lu-ya he shouldn't run around without his clothes," Law said.

Not a moment later, Rockstar slammed open the cabin door, causing everyone on deck to look his direction. "Ladies and gentlemen! I present Midget Marco!" He stepped aside to show Luffy standing behind him.

There was a pause before a roar of laughter erupted.

"Oh my god! Is that your clothes?" Sabo said in between laughs.

"How did they get his hair like that?" Ace laughed from beside Sabo.

Law chucked. "They do say imitation is a form of flattery."

Marco's eye twitched in annoyance. Those were his clothes. He couldn't believe they actually went through his things and altered his clothes.

"Pops!" Luffy ran up to him. "I look like you!"

"I see that-yoi," Marco bit out. "Why are you wearing my clothes? And how did teaching him the importance of wearing clothes turn into this?" he looked to Rockstar, who managed to look sheepish.

"Actually, I have no idea. One minute we were having a serious conversation, it was a serious _one-side_ conversation. I don't think he understood anything I said. Then he gets up all serious like and walks away. I followed, and he led me to your room. I look in and there he was, rummaging through your things. He just started stripping right there and then. He needed help putting the clothes on, so I helped. I even made it fit with rubber bands and some pins. He didn't look right, so I fixed his hair too. I kid you not. I have no idea how the lecture of wearing clothes turned into this. He looks happy about it at least."

"Luffy, why are you wearing my clothes-yoi?" Marco asked again.

Luffy tilted his head in thought. "Rockstar was talking about clothes. It was boring, and I didn't understand what he was saying. Something about bad men wearing clothes. Then I remembered your scarf belt. I really like your scarf belt. And then Rockstar helped me look like you!"

Marco looked at the kid in confusion, trying to find the connection between his belt and perverts, before giving up. There is no understanding how the kid's brain worked.

-*/-*/-*/

"So? What do you think?" Shanks asked as an island came to view the next morning.

Law, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy looked at the small village that greeted them. The harbor held many fishing boats with fishermen unloading the day's haul. Behind that was a small bar with a large sign over the the door, announcing it's name: Party Bar. Lining the streets were more shops of various types and what looked like homes further on down.

"Looks homey," Law said.

"It's an island. What do you want us to think?" Ace asked, confused.

Shanks's smile dropped. "What? I heard you two were from Dawn Island in East Blue. This doesn't look familar?"

"Sorry, Shanks, but Ace and I lived with mountain bandits and only went to Goa to cause trouble. I don't remember seeing any village like this on Dawn," Sabo explained.

"Oh," Shanks said dejectedly.

Benn came over and placed a comforting hand over his captain's shoulder. "When we were sailing around East Blue, we frequented a place on Dawn Island called Fuusha Village on and off for about a year. Captain liked it so much that he had this uninhabited island modeled after Fuusha. All the villagers you see are former slaves that we happened upon. Shanks wanted to show you a little piece of home."

"Fuusha?" Both Ace and Sabo's face lit up.

"Makino was from Fuusha, right?" Ace asked Sabo.

"You two know Makino?" Shanks asked, getting over his depression.

"Yeah. She and Dadan were friends, surprisingly and would sometimes visit and give us clothes," Sabo said. "The Mayor came with her because he didn't trust the bandits. They're the only ones we know from Fuusha."

"And Gramps. We've never been to village itself though," Ace rubbed his hand through the back of his hair. "I wasn't allowed anywhere near people. Gray Terminal didn't count for some reason. Though we did sneak into Low Town to turn things in for cash and wreak havoc just because."

"Thanks for trying?" Sabo tried.

Shanks waved his hand dismissivly. "Meh. I brought you to an island. Explore all you want. You never know, you might like it here."

Before they even reached the pier and anchor, they could already see and hear the villagers gathering and cheering at the sight of their ship.

"Very popular," Law commented.

"Like I said, we're their heroes, even though we weren't really trying to save them. The ship they were on just happened to attack us," Benn said proudly as the rest of the Red Force crew gathered on deck, ready to disembark.

The Whitebeard Pirates followed Shanks down the plank. Once they all set foot on the island, they were surrounded by people of all ages.

Luffy, being the smallest and the youngest, was surrounded by Law, Ace, and Sabo so that he doesn't get jostled by the crowd.

Law looked behind him when he felt someone grab his sleeve. He looked down to see Luffy looking at the people nervously. Law nudged Sabo and gestured with his head towards Luffy. Understanding what was going on, Sabo pulled Luffy and Ace to slip away from the crowd. Law stayed in order to inform Marco and Shanks that the trio didn't just up and disappeared.

"You okay there, Luffy?" Sabo asked once they were a good distance away from the crowd and walking down the dirt road of the village.

The boy nodded and gave both of them a bright excited smile. "Yeah. There was a lot of very happy people. It made me feel, um, I don't know. Tingly? It was a good feeling. Just too much."

Ace and Sabo didn't quite understand what he meant, so they just ruffled his hair, relieved that he wasn't feeling afraid of the crowd. They decided to go ahead and toured the village without waiting for everyone else.

Once the crowd diminished, Marco looked around him and noticed the three missing. "Shit. Where'd those kids go-yoi?" he asked Law.

"Luffy looked nervous, so Sabo took him and Ace, and I guess, walk through town."

"How long ago?"

Law narrowed his eyes at Marco's worried look. "About a minute or two after we got off the ship. Why?"

"What's wrong?" Shanks interrupted them.

"Ace, Sabo, and Luffy went off on their own-yoi," Marco groaned with his hand over his eyes.

"So? This island is safe. There's no need to worry about them," Shanks laughed.

"You don't understand," the blond moved his hand to his forehead and swiped his hair back. "It's either they find trouble, or trouble finds them. How do you think their bounty keeps going up when they're sailing with us? They're lucky they haven't been caught yet. They even managed to burn down an island without doing it themselves."

Law's eyes widened in realization, before smacking his hand to his face. How could he forget. "Shit. They have about a 30 minute head start. We have to -"

Before he could finish his sentence, they heard Sabo cry out in pain, followed closely by Ace's voice. Now that they know which direction to look for the boys, they ran as fast as they could and saw Luffy on the ground, unmoving with some white powdery substance on his face, and Sabo rubbing his teary eyes, trying to get the same powdery substance out.

"Let go of me, dammit," Ace said to a boy that was dragging him away from his brothers. Getting fed up with struggling with the persistent boy, he proceeded to punch the him once, sending him to unconsciousness. Leaving the boy laying on the ground, he crouched down next to Luffy and shook him. "Luffy? Luffy, you okay there? Come on, say something."

"What happened?" Marco demanded once they reached them.

"My eyes!" Sabo wailed with tears streaming down his face.

"I don't know," Ace answered, still trying to shake Luffy awake. "We were just walking, and that kid," he jerked a thumb behind him, "came up and threw something at Sabo and Luffy, then tried to drag me away."

Law crouched down to take a look at Luffy. The young teen was barely breathing. He swiped a finger through the powder and sniffed it before taking a small lick and finched. "It's a very potent sedative. We need to flush Sabo's eyes very thoroughly and take Lu back to the ship. All my supplies are there, and hopefully, Shank's infirmary is well stocked." Shanks nodded that they were. "It looks like he may have ingested a some of it. We have to hurry." He picked up his sister and ran towards the ship, with Marco doing the same with Sabo.

Ace followed with the unknown boy thrown over his shoulders. "What?" he asked when Shanks looked at him. "He attacked us, and I want to know why. He's lucky I didn't fry him."

"He's not breathing," Law said worriedly, as he checked over Luffy once more in the infirmary with the ship's doctor.

The doctor held a stethoscope to Luffy's chest and shook his head sadly. "His heart's stopped beating."

"Move," Law shoved the older man aside and pressed two thumbs on the boy's chest. "Counter Shock!" He sent waves of electrical currents to the body, willing the heart to start once more. It didn't work. He tried again with no success.

There was a pained groan from the next bed over, where their attacker was stirring. Ace wasted no time to grab this person's shirt and shake him awake. He didn't want to think about his baby brother being dead. There was no way Luffy was dead.

"Why the hell did you attack us?" he yelled as he continued to shake the boy. "What did we ever do to you?" He continued to yell as he was being pulled off and held back by Marco.

The boy shook in fear as he realized he's been caught.

Shanks sat down calmly on the boy's bed just as Sabo walked in with Benn's help. "How's Luffy?" The room was silent, and all he could hear was someone sniffling. "Ace? What's going on? I can't see. Is Luffy okay?" Fear laced his voice. The quiet was unsettling. "Guys?"

"Lu..." Law tried to answer, but his voice caught his throat.

The doctor answered for him, but was cut off when there was gasp from Luffy's bed. He and Law quickly moved to check on their youngest brother.

"He's breathing," Law crumpled down to the floor next to the bed in relief. "Lu-ya's breathing again."

Ace shook Marco off him and rushed to Luffy's bedside and lightly tapped his face to wake him up. "Lu? Luffy? Wake up."

The doctor placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "With the amount his ingested, it may take him a while to wake up again. Once he does, he may be disoriented, and he may not be able to move, hear, or see. It's temporary though. It's already a miracle that he's breathing again. He was dead for a good five minutes or so."

"Oh, God," Sabo fell to the ground. "Lu died? But he's okay now?" He felt cold at the thought of almost loosing his precious brother. "Wait. Disoriented?"

The doctor nodded, before he remembered Sabo couldn't see him. "Yes, disoriented. Your loss of sight is also temporary. It should come back some time tomorrow or the next day."

"What's wrong?" Ace asked warily at Sabo's pale face, as he wiped away his tears.

"Trao, do you have the tranq gun with you?" Sabo asked seriously.

"No..."

"Go get it. We might need it. How disoriented will he be?"

"With how much that's gotten into his system, very," the doctor answered, "but he shouldn't be able to move around, so a tranquilizer will be unnecessary."

Ace understood what Sabo was thinking. "This is Luffy we're talking about. Better safe than sorry, especially if he can't see and doesn't know where he is once he wakes up."

"So, care to explain-yoi?" Marco asked of the boy in the other bed. Everyone else had forgotten about him once they found out Luffy was still alive.

"Hey, don't be scared." Shanks offered gently when the boy didn't answer and continued to shake in fear. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Says you," Ace growled.

"Ace," Marco warned.

"What's your name?" Shanks asked, trying to warm up to the boy.

"Jeff," he finally answered.

"How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven, huh? Jeff, you seem like a good kid, so there must be a good reason for what you did," Shanks encouraged.

"I...I thought...I thought those two were nobles, "he pointed to Sabo and Luffy, "and I wanted to save him," he pointed to Ace, "from them. I didn't mean to hurt them. I saw this bag of powder in a pile of trash, and I thought it would just distracted them enough for us to run away." Tears streamed down his eyes once the situation finally hit him. He knew he was in trouble. These were pirates. Sure they were pirates that saved him along with the others, but pirates are pirates. Not to mention he recognized the tattoo on the other man as Whitebeard's. It's not just one big named pirate he was dealing with.

"What made you think those two are nobles? From what I've heard from their grandpa, their background is quite similar to yours," Shanks said amused.

"Their clothes?" Jeff said meekly.

"He's got you there," Ace said with a weak laugh.

Sabo huffed from his position on the floor near the door. "Nobles wouldn't be caught dead in these clothes. Too casual. You wouldn't believe how many times my real dad went through my closet and burned my favorite clothes. 'I will not let my son wear something that will tarnish our good name,' he would say. Good thing I'm not his son anymore. Nobles are hypocrites."

"Oh? So you used to be a noble?" Shanks asked. "Garp didn't mention anything about that. Just said you were his grandson."

"Yeah. I ran away from home because I didn't agree with how the nobles view human lives. Just because someone wasn't born a noble, doesn't mean they're trash or tools to be used. Even being born a noble, children are used to further pursue the adults' reputation. I just wanted my own freedom. Gramps never asked anything. To him, I just showed up one day at Dadan's, and he just adopted me without a question. It was like I've been there the whole time," Sabo said with a fond smile.

Ace snorted. "Ironic really. You went from filthy rich, to dirt poor, to slave in a matter of a year."

"You were a slave?" Jeff asked, finally feeling safe enough that the pirates wouldn't kill him.

"Like Shanks said, our situation is quite similar," Sabo said with a frown. "But our story is a little more violent."

"Story time later-yoi," Marco suddenly cut in. "Shanks, take that kid, Sabo, and the doctor to a different room. Somewhere safe and away from here-yoi. Looks like Luffy might wake up a little earlier than we think. I just saw his fingers twitch."

Shanks laughed. "You too, Marco? Seriously. How dangerous could one midget be? He's just a cute little kid."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Shanks," Ace said as he helped Sabo up, "but like Sabo just said, 'Our story is a little violent.' You're the Captain of this ship, so your life is our priority. Not to mention, Luffy is our problem. Sabo can't see, so take care of him for us."

"Also, Pops?" Sabo turned his head to face the room, not really knowing where the other blond was.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful." Because, while Sabo wasn't worried about Marco hurting Luffy, he was still worried about his father figure.

Marco nodded before the door closed, leaving him, Law, Ace, and Benn in the infirmary with Luffy.

"Mind explaining?" Benn asked. "I'm with Shanks. There's no way this brat is that dangerous."

"There was this one time, back when we were still a slave, the people there drugged him and brought him back to our cell out cold. He woke up and tried to kill us because he was hungry. He didn't recognize us. He killed the three guards that came to stop him. I'm not sure how we did it, but Sabo and I somehow knock him out. We came out of it badly hurt. When he woke up, he didn't remember anything. He was only three. If you want to know what you're dealing with, image fighting all 16 Commanders at the same time," Ace explained. "Okay, maybe that's exaggerating but close enough."

"Is that why you have that tranq gun-yoi?" Marco asked.

"No. I asked Sabo for one. The next person to laugh at my narcolepsy will be sleeping in their dinner," Ace blushed. "Trao just accidentally brought it with him and noticed it in his bag a few days ago."

"You've never seen him fight," Law said, taking away the small knife and pistol from Luffy's holsters. "He maybe scrawny, but he knows what he's doing."

"You're kidding," Benn said disbelievingly.

"They're not. We trained him, so we know what he's capable of-yoi," Marco answered.

Benn remained quiet, waiting until later when he's with his captain to ask more question. For now, he'll have to see firsthand.

It was only five minutes later when Luffy stirred. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times, looking confused.

"Luffy?" Ace said from beside the bed. He reached his hand over to place his hand over his brother's head, only to be slapped aside.

Luffy quickly moved to the corner of the bed and moved his head side to side, trying to figure out why he couldn't see anything, and why he couldn't recognize any of the lights in the room. His head hurt so much that he couldn't think straight. The only thing he could think of were of his brothers. Where are they? Are they alright? What happened? Why was everything _so_ quiet and dark and fuzzy?

"Ace? Sabo?" he tried to call out, but no sound came from his mouth.

"Lu-ya, it's okay. Calm down," Law tried. He was pushed down when he approached the bed.

"I don't think he can hear you-yoi. Remember what the doctor said-yoi?" Marco said as he pushed himself off Law. He reached out to grab Luffy's arm when the boy tried to dash out of the infirmary, only to be bitten on the hand and punched in the face.

"I thought no one could touch you," Benn said in surprise as he too tried to catch Luffy. He was kicked out of the way, into the door, and out in the hall.

"Haki," was all Marco said as he wiped the blood from his lip where blue/gold flames erupted to heal his cut and chased the boy with Law and Ace on his tail.

"What the hell happened?" Shanks demanded. He and Jeff ran out to see what the commotion was, ignoring Sabo's protest. "I thought Doc said he wouldn't be able to move for a while."

"We may have a bit of a problem, Captain," Benn said. "The kid's fast."

"It's been confirmed-yoi," Marco panted when Benn finally joined them on deck, where Ace was fighting Luffy with a broken mop handle and Law with his long sword still in it's sheath, "he can't see either. He tripped all over everything in his way. He's using haki to see people though-yoi."

"How should we handle this?" Benn asked with his hand over his shotgun.

"Attack with everything you got and hope you can knock him out-yoi. We're either going to have to try to hit him the tranquilizer or knock him into the ocean-yoi."

With that, they both joined Ace and Law.

"Aren't you going to help them?" Jeff asked Shanks, who just leaned on the wall and watched them fight.

"Nah. They've got it. But still, I can't believe that cute little kid can be this vicious," Shanks said seriously just as Luffy tripped over Ace's mop, only to kick Law in the chest as he righted himself in one fluid motion.

"That's why you have to be careful of kids too, not just the scary looking guys." The two looked over to see Sabo carefully crawling up the stairs on his hands and knees. "That's how we managed to kidnap Pops."

Jeff went over to help the teen up and walk him over to where Shanks stood.

"Kidnap Marco? That Marco? Marco, the First Division Commander and First Mate of Whitebeard?" Shanks asked in surprise and burst out laughing.

"Our last job with our old employer," Sabo smirked. "Luffy was seven, and we were ten. Just imagine a cute little girl and her brothers doing a dine and dash, and you caught us red handed. Marco chased us down. Now that I know him, I'm not sure if he wanted to turn us in and lecture us, or to make sure we had a place to return to. Anyway, Luffy distracted him while we knocked him out with a set of seastone cuffs. They wanted to use Marco as a hostage to take Whitebeard's head. Opps. Don't tell Pops I told you. It's supposed to be our secret," Sabo blushed.

Shanks laughed. "So, all it takes is some defenseless kids to bring down Whitebeard's First Mate's defense."

Law was suddenly sent towards them, making a large hole in the cabin's wall.

"Where's the gun?" Sabo asked.

"He kicked it out of my hand. Not sure where it went," Law grunted. He has various minor cuts here and there and a deep one on his shoulder. "My sword got stolen."

Then they watched as Lucky Roo walked up the plank while eating a piece of meat. He looked at the ongoing fight, turned his head to look at Shanks, then down to his feet where he almost stepped on a gun.

"Oh, nice timing, Lucky. Shoot the kid with that, would you?" Shanks asked, pointing to the gun at his crew's feet.

Lucky studied the fight for a moment before shrugging and held his meat between his teeth. He pulled out one of his own gun and fired before firing the tranq gun in the direction Luffy dodged the first.

Everyone fighting, turned as one to look at Lucky in surprise at how effortlessly he took down the boy, then dropped to the deck in exhaustion.

"Jeff, go get Doc, would you? Looks like we have a few more people for him to patch up. I'll take Luffy back down to the infirmary, and Sabo? I would like an explanation as to how little Luffy is the way he is. Lucky…you just do whatever you were doing." Shanks pushed off the wall and walked towards the exhausted group.

"Who the hell taught that kid Haki?" Benn complained as he nursed a bruised arm.

"No one," Marco said tiredly. "He just somehow picked it up one day."

"Must be nice to be able to heal yourself," Ace grumbled as he glared at Marco, who supported him since his leg had been kicked by Luffy. It's probably broken, he thought to himself as he winced when he put slight pressure on it.

After everyone has been patched up and settled down, Ace and Sabo told their story, minus Ace's and Luffy's parentage or who their 'owner' was. They didn't want unnecessary information leaked with Jeff being there.

They were already lucky that Marines didn't have pictures for their wanted poster. Especially with Doflamingo still wanting Luffy back, they just wanted to take precaution in case Jeff accidentally leaked something to the wrong person.

"So let me get this straight," Ben said, "The three of you were slaves slash assassins?"

Ace and Sabo nodded.

"But you two were only eleven when we first met," Shanks said in worried confusion. "Weren't you kids too young to be going around killing people?"

"They didn't think so," Ace and Sabo both said.

"And Luffy -"

"Shanks-yoi," Marco shook his head, telling the ship's captain to not ask anymore.

"Just so you know, Jeff, you can't tell anyone about us. We don't want to go back," Sabo said. You just never know who would visit the island after all.

"Is that why Luffy insists that being the Pirate King equals being the freest person in the world?" Shanks mused.

Ace nodded solemnly. "It's his dream: to be the person with the most freedom."

"That would explain why he likes to run around naked-yoi," Marco smirked, causing everyone to laugh.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I just realized that I forgot Law's ya name endings. Opps.

Got sick. Brain not wanting to work, so this is what you get today. Sorry if it sounds weird. It was somewhere around the last two chapters that my rough draft took a turn for the lazy. I'm now having to play fill in the blanks with my own writing. :P


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

 _It's a beautiful thing to  
_ _meet someone who makes  
you forget your troubles._

 _\- unknown_

Luffy didn't wake until early the next morning. When he did, he found that everything was dark. Too dark. He made a noise of confusion. The was a slight sound of movement to his right. He turned his head but couldn't make an outline of anyone, but he knew who it was.

"Trao? What happened? I can't see," he whined. "My throat hurts."

"Oh good, you're coherent," Law said in relief, putting down the tranq gun that he had been pointing at his sister with as a precaution. He held out a glass of water and guided it to Luffy's hands.

"Co-what?"

"Nothing," Law waved off, not in the mood to explain. He's tired from staying up most of the night, keeping an eye on Luffy. He and the Red Hair Pirate's doctor had been taking turns watching the boy. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Luffy scrunched his face up in thought. "Somebody threw something at me and Sabo. I thought it was that yummy sweet thing that Thatch likes to use on dessert, but it taste yucky, and it hurt my eyes." Then his face turned to Law as he just remembered something. "How's Sabo and Ace?"

"They're fine, probably still sleeping. It's still very early in the morning. It was just you and Sabo-ya that were targeted, so Ace-ya is unharmed. Sabo-ya just lost his sight for the time being. His sight should come back some time today. Yours should return soon too. You ended up getting the most of it due to your lack of height," Law explained.

"Okay," Luffy had sat up on the bed and kicked his feet back and forth as he listened to his brother. "Ace caught him? Is that who's in Marco's room?"

"Yes," Law said, unsurprised that Luffy knew. He and the other three already knew about Luffy's extraordinary Observation Haki. He's lip twitched upward as he told his sister why the boy did what he did.

"So he's a good guy," Luffy stated. "He just want to help Ace, even though Ace don't need help."

"That's right."

"I'm hungry."

Law laughed at the grumble from Luffy's stomach. "Let's get dressed and wake the other's up."

Luffy cheered and got up to run to his other brothers after being dressed by Law, only to slam into the infirmary's wall. Law just sighed and opened the door for him and held his hand to guide him through the hall.

Ace and Sabo were the first to be woken up with Luffy jumping on their shared bed. Ace yelled in pain when Luffy accidentally jostled his bruised leg. Luckily it wasn't broken like he'd thought.

"Ace! Are you okay? What happened?" Luffy patted him all over.

Ace managed to laugh it off and told him that it was just a prank gone wrong. He, Benn, and Law got a few small cuts, but they were fine. "I gotta learn to not pull a prank without Sabo double checking it."

Law and Luffy left them to get ready and went to the room across to find that Marco was already awake and dressed. The man caught Luffy when the boy launched himself at him.

"Good to see you're awake, Luffy-yoi," Marco ruffled his hair.

"Did I sleep long? I had a good nap," Luffy giggled.

"I think you slept most of the day yesterday-yoi." Marco fumbled with the boy in his arm when Luffy decided to lean back and hang upside to look at the person standing next to them.

"Hi! What's your name? I'm Luffy." He reached out both hands to touch the other person's face.

"I'm Jeff," he answered nervously. He was afraid of this boy. The kid was more dangerous than any of the older pirates on board.

"Trao told me you tried to save Ace. So don't be scared. You're a good person. Thank you."

"Huh? But I attacked you. I'm not a good person," he mumbled.

"No, you're a good person. I say so," Luffy said with conviction. Then he tilted his head with his hand still on Jeff's head. "Hey, how old are you? You're taller than me, but you're still shorter than Ace and Sabo though. I'm 13!"

"Thirteen?! You're short!" Jeff couldn't help but shout. Really, Luffy confused him. First, he thanked him for attempting to save his brother that didn't need saving. Then, he says he's a good person, even though he was that one that attacked him and his brother. Now, he's saying he's older than him, even though Luffy only looked about ten or so. "And why are you wearing a dress?"

"I am? Trao says I'm portable," Luffy smiled brightly. "Dresses are pretty. Wonder what it looks like today. So? How old are you?" He wound his arms around Jeff's neck, signaling to Marco to let go so he can hang off of the other boy's back.

"I'm 11. You're light," Jeff said in surprise. How can someone older than him be so small and light? Is this what happens to someone who became a slave at a young age? Then he realized what Luffy just said. "You can't see?"

"I'm hungry," Luffy said.

"Why are you hanging off me?" Jeff asked uncomfortably as they walked up to the deck.

"Because I want to."

Marco laughed. "It's because he can't see inanimate objects-yoi. He might just end up tripping over something."

"He ran into the wall earlier," Law said. "At least it's only temporary."

"Oh, I know!" Luff exclaimed. "Jeff lives on this island right? Can you take us on a tour?"

"But you can't see."

"It's okay. I don't need to see. I wanna eat. Oh!" He jumped off his ride and ran across the deck and launched himself at Shanks's back. "Shanks!"

"How did he know?" Jeff asked bewildered.

"Just remember that Luffy is special-yoi. There aren't many people like him who can tell whose presence is whose. Most of us can only tell if someone is there or not, sometimes determining whether they are enemy or ally," Marco explained.

"Special indeed," Law mused. "I still don't understand how he's alive. It seemed like he had a lethal dosage of that sedative. I mean, we did lose him for a good five minutes."

"I'm sorry," Jeff hung his head. He really didn't mean to hurt anyone.

"Luffy's forgiven you, so don't think about it anymore," Ace said limping up behind them, while guiding Sabo.

"Let me guess," Sabo grumbled, "Lu's running around like he can see just fine."

"Only if there's nothing to trip over," Law grinned. "What did you run into?"

"Everything and everyone," Sabo sighed. "Ran into Yasopp on the way out of the bathroom. Stupid Ace did nothing to help."

"You know-yoi," Marco said, "this is a good chance to practice your Observation Haki. You can get a small glimpse of how Luffy sees the world-yoi."

"Yeah, but his doesn't turn off, and it's tiring," Sabo whined like Luffy would.

"Oh, Benn," Luffy looked at the man over Shanks's shoulder, "Ace said you got hurt in one of his prank. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Benn answered slowly, confused as to how Luffy knew he was there but picked up on the lie Ace set up. "It wasn't too bad."

"Okay, good. Let's eat. Jeff said he's going to take us somewhere yummy."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Shanks grinned at the approaching group.

"Yeah! So, food!" Luffy cheered as he jumped off Shanks's back and grabbed Jeff's hand to pull him to where he remembered the plank was, only to run into a barrel that someone left.

The rest followed and watched as Luffy got back up and dragged Jeff down the plank, trip and roll off the plank with Jeff, run across the pier, weave around a few people, and run into the wall of the bar. Luffy just laughed and got back up and used his hands to feel his way to the door and ran inside with Jeff still on the ground, rubbing his sore bottom.

"I thought I was supposed to lead him," Jeff said as they arrived.

"He's hungry," Ace laughed. "So he followed his nose, and this happens to be the closest food place."

They went in to see Luffy sitting at the bar, waiting for his food. There were only a few other people sitting around at various tables enjoying their breakfast.

"What did you order, kid?" Shanks asked, sitting next to Luffy.

"Anything!"

"Then we will too," Shanks told the barmaid behind the counter. "Anything you have is fine, miss. I hope you have a lot of food. Three of these brats eat enough for ten grown men," he laughed.

Sabo laid his head on the counter in the seat on Luffy's other side. "Lu, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How do you walk around with your Observation Haki on all the time? It's so tiring. And how can you tell who is who?"

"I don't know. How do I turn it off?"

"Ugh!"

Luffy laughed at him before he asked. "I see lights. Some are brighter than others. All the lights feel different. Ace and Sabo's light are super bright, except when we play hide and seek. Then it's not as bright."

They all listened as they had wanted to know also.

"I don't see anything. I just feel that something is there or if it's coming towards me," Sabo grumbled. "Why is this so hard?"

"Normally, that's about right-yoi," Marco said to Sabo. "From what I've learned from everyone else, you usually sense that something is there. Once you get used to that, you'll eventually sense if something is coming towards you and whether it's coming with ill intention or not. The three of you have gotten better at dodging attacks, so you're improving-yoi."

Food came and they ate. A few minutes later a woman came in a took a seat at a table near the door. Luffy paused in his eating for a moment, before he picked up his plate to sit with the lady without a word to them. The others continued eating but kept an eye on the boy who started chatting with the woman.

They watched as the woman stared at the strange little boy in bewilderment as he started talking. Then she gave him a small warm smile, which Luffy returned brightly, and she started talking with the boy. After he finished talking, he came back to them, leaving his empty plate with the lone woman.

"What was that about?" Ace asked. Luffy just hummed questioningly. "Why did you go to talk to that lady?"

"Oh. She was sad, so I went to talk to her. She said she didn't know what to do with her baby because she don't like the man that gave her the baby. So I told her that people shouldn't be judged by their blood. That's what Grandpops says, right? Babies don't do bad things. She has to teach the baby good things," Luffy started on his next plate that was set in front of him. "Like me, right? Ace and Sabo taught me lots of good things."

"You are full of surprises, brat," Shanks ruffled Luffy's hair fondly.

"Really?" he tilted head.

"Yes, you are. How did you know what that lady needed?" Shanks leaned his head into his hand with his elbow resting on the counter.

"Sounds like she was crying. She was sad, and I asked her why she was sad. She asked what she should do with a monster's child or something like that. I told her babies are not monsters. Monsters are the big scaring things, and babies are small and cute. So not monsters."

"She wasn't crying-yoi," Marco said, concern clear in his eyes.

"Maybe you need to get your ears checked," Luffy shrugged, causing the rest of them question the boy's hearing. They all knew for certain the woman wasn't crying. Her face had been dry since she came in, though they could tell she was upset about something. But now she seems satisfied with the world.

"And here I thought he was some happy-go-lucky idiot," Benn laughed.

"He is," Law, Ace, and Sabo said.

"He has his moments-yoi," Marco said fondly. "I think this is what Queen Otohime was talking about, being able to hear people's heart-yoi."

The barmaid came by once again with another plate for the three black holes. "Thank you," she said softly to Luffy. "I don't know what you said to her, but she seems happier."

"You a friend of hers?" Shanks asked.

"Everyone here are friends, especially after you brought us here together," she laughed. "We talk a lot. I guess we're good friends. She's been down ever since finding out she was pregnant with a noble's child. She didn't know whether she should keep it or not. And if she kept it, she worried that he or she would be treated like a monster because of it's unknown father." She looked to her friend worriedly.

"'We are all children of the sea.' Grandpops said that to us," Ace said quietly. "Bloodline means nothing, we're our own person."

"I'll be sure to tell her that," the kind barmaid said, "and the others. She's not the only one, you know."

"I'm not surprised," Marco said. "Life as a slave is harsh-yoi."

"Yeah," Sabo said sadly. "You can't fight back. Even when you know you can easily overpower them strength wise. The master finds your weakness and holds it against you."

"But you're all free now," Ace smiled for her. "That's all that matters."

-*/-*/-/*

After spending the whole day with the pirates, Jeff wasn't sure what to think of Luffy. The teen would bounce here and there, run into things, constantly ask for food, and say very strange and childish things. Was he really older than him? Is this person really thirteen? Even worst is when his brothers seem to just let him do whatever the kid wants and buys whatever he wants.

"You guys are spoiling him," Jeff commented to Ace.

"That's because he's our sunshine. He shines bright even in a dark cell. As long as he smiles, we know everything is good. He's the reason me and Sabo found a will to live again," Ace said before walking towards a cotton candy vendor.

Jeff looked at him in confusion when Marco walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's with the face, kid-yoi?"

"Luffy. He's weird. He acts like a kid but sometimes says adult things. Ace, Sabo, and Law just indulge him."

"You've heard Ace and Sabo's story. Can you imagine having to raise a toddler at their young age-yoi? I think they did a great job under their circumstance. They've raised him to live his life the fullest, to live his life with no regrets. You should do the same-yoi," Marco gave him a smile. "Just so you know, those three aren't the only ones that spoils him rotten. He lives on a ship with over a thousand siblings who fell in love with his bright attitude towards life, and yet, he's still selfless-yoi. It's been five years, and he still blames himself for Shanks's arm."

"What happened to Shanks's arm?" Jess asked in surprised curiosity. It was something a lot of the people on the island has been wondering about but never asked.

"Luffy was kidnapped by someone we trusted," Marco hissed the last word, "and then tossed into the sea. This was right after the three of them ate their Devil Fruit, so he couldn't swim. I don't think he was ever taught to swim, now that I think about it. A sea king was about to eat him, but Shanks gave up his arm in order to save him-yoi."

They were interrupted by Sabo's cheer inside a bookstore. "I can see! I can see!" they could hear him from the streets.

They went into see him lifting Luffy in the air and spinning him around. The two outside looked at each other and smiled.

Jeff now understands, or as much as his young mind could and decided that he wants to be like them. To live life without regret.

Later that evening, Ace and Sabo asked if they could spend the night in the forest for old time's sake. While Law, Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and Jeff trekked through the dark forest with their oil lantern, Ace and Sabo told stories of when they lived with Dadan and about their tree house they never got to finish. Eventually, Luffy asked Jeff what his childhood was like.

"My hometown was on a small island in South Blue. I was an only child and lived with both of my parents. Everyday was fun, even though I had to help out in the fields. There were times when I snuck out on my chores to play with the other kids," he said with a fond smile before it turned into a frown. "I'm not sure what happened, but one night, this guy came and took me from my room. I remember yelling for help and my parents coming out of their room, but the guy killed them. This was two years ago. Shanks offered to take me back, but I don't think I can live there without remembering what happened. Right now, I'm staying with this really nice old lady who took care of me while I was a slave with her."

Luffy just hummed, thoughts miles away. "What about Trao?"

"I'm from North Blue. I had a younger sister. We both wanted to be doctors like our parents. I'd like to think I had a very normal childhood. I went to school, had friends to talk and play with even though I wasn't very sociable," Law shrugged.

Ace and Sabo purposefully tripped Jeff before he could open his mouth to ask Luffy about his childhood.

"Why are you asking? You've never been interested before," Law asked, distracting Luffy from Jeff's fall.

Luffy looked up at him in surprise before giving a blinding smile, "Just wondering," he sang before running ahead of the group, laughing as he swung from one branch to the next.

"Hey, wait!" Law shouted with his arm reaching out to stop Luffy, only to realize Luffy hadn't trip over anything since they've left Marco. "When did he get his sight back?" he asked the three behind him, who only shrugged in confusion before they all ran after Luffy.

-*/-*/-*/

When the pirates boarded their ship to go back home the next day after lunch, Jeff stopped Luffy from following the rest of the crew up the ship. There was something he wanted to say. After a whole day of observing and spending time with Luffy, Jeff has come to a realization. "I really admire you. You always seem so happy, and, and...and I just want to say that I'm going to try to live like you. To live without regrets."

Luffy answered with a smile. "That's how you should. Never regret anything you choose to do. That's why I forgive you for saving Ace. You are a good person. Oh, yeah," he took out a piece of paper and tore a piece to give to him. "When you can sail on your own, follow this paper. I think you'd like the people there. Just tell them I sent you. Oh, but you'll have to train to get stronger though, or maybe they want smart people. Whatever. They'll like you because you're a good person, and you want to help."

"Also," Jeff looked up at the pirates waiting for Luffy on the ship and back to Luffy, his face a little red, "I think I like you, and I hope I can see you again," he said quickly. He gave Luffy a peck on the cheek before taking off.

Hearing the cheers, whistles, and curses behind him, Luffy looked up at his friends and family in confusion. Marco had to hold Ace and Sabo back from jumping ship and roasting the kid, even though he wants to do the same. Law, on the other hand, was glaring in the direction that Jeff took.

"Seems you got yourself a crush, kid," Shanks said as Luffy walked up the plank.

"I didn't crush anything," the young teen tilted his head in confusion.

"Luffy," Ace said seriously, "you are not allowed near that asshole every again!"

"Huh? Who?"

"Never mind that," Law interrupted. "Luffy-ya, if anyone ever asks you to marry them, say no. You are not allowed to get married until we say you can. Got it?"

"Why?"

"Because I say so. Now promise me that you'll say no if anyone ever asks you to marry them."

"Ok."

"Good thinking-yoi," Marco sighed in relief. At least he doesn't have to worry about the most troublesome of his four getting married without his consent. "And no boyfriend or girlfriend-yoi."

"What's that?" Marco and the three teens sighed in frustration and went on to attempt to persuade their youngest to never date anyone as the rest of the Red Hair Pirates laugh at their over protectiveness.

"And if anyone touches you funny, let me know. I'll rip his family jewels off and burn it right in front of him," Ace said dangerously.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Yeah, I have no idea if this thing is a bad cold or allergies. So annoying. I didn't feel like giving this chapter one last read through. My head hurts.

As for Law's ya, I'll just start it now and will fix the other chapters later today, maybe. :P

I think I'm going to write a sequel. Maybe. Ideas and stuff keeps popping in my mind. Also because it sounds like some people are interested in it? So many maybes.

And **Toolazytologin:** I laughed really hard at your review and _really_ thought about it. But no. XD


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 _Worrying is a waste of time.  
Have faith and don't worry  
about the things you can't  
control or change._

 _\- unknown_

This was the first time in over a year that Garp had come to visit his grandsons and Whitebeard, also the first time he'd be meeting Trafalgar Law.

Law's first impression of the old man wearing a Marine uniform was suspicious at best. Especially after the Fist of Loves he sent to Ace and Sabo and was thoroughly confused when he dotted on Luffy.

That was until Ace and Sabo introduced him as their adopted grandpa and Luffy's blood grandpa. He still wasn't comfortable with the fact that Garp seemed to somehow know about his relationship with Cora-san just after hearing he willingly joined the Donquixote Pirates when he was a young suicidal kid and that he was from North Blue. Why did Ace and Sabo tell him?!

"Did you happen to meet a man by the name of Rosinante?"

"Yes," Law answered cautiously. While he knew Cora-san worked as an undercover marine, he didn't know how much the Marines knew. On the other hand, this man was his brother's grandpa. "He was an undercover marine, the second Corazon in Joker's family, and the psychopath's blood brother. Why do you ask?"

Garp laughed and patted the teen's back a little too hard. "You're that kid with the Amber Lead Syndrome Rosinante ditched his duties to save. Glad to see you made it, kid." He laughed some more before sobering and looking to his grandsons. "Ah, that gives me an idea. You boys think we can meet somewhere away from all this pirate business? There's someone I like you to meet."

A month later the boys were on the same island that burned down just over a year ago. They came as often as they could to plant new greenery on the island that they've claimed as their own. It's not much, but there are some new bushes and small trees growing. They're working on making it as green as it used to be.

-*/-*/-*/

"Dammit, Garp, where are you taking me?" Sengoku complained from his seat on their unmarked ship. He watched as the only other person on the ship looked down at a vivre card and adjusted their course accordingly.

"Just sit tight, Sengoku. We're almost there."

"That's what you said two days ago," the Fleet Admiral grumbled.

"I think that's it," Garp pointed to a small lump in the distance.

"You think? What do you mean you think? Do you even know where we're going?"

They were close to the tiny island when a loud roar was heard and then a familiar voice. "No. They're okay, Mr. Guardian. The one with lots of gray hair is Grandpa. Hi, Grandpa," Luffy waved at them from atop a very large sea king.

"Luffy! What are you doing in the middle of the sea?" Garp yelled at him, not in the least intimidated by the sea king. "Did you forget you can't swim?"

Luffy laughed. "It's okay. I have this," he held up the bubbly coral he'd gotten many years ago from Fishman Island, "and Mr. Guardian won't let me drown. Right?" He looked down on the sea king he sat on. It gave a small growl before tossing Luffy into the air and diving underwater and catching the boy before he hit the ocean.

"Get off that thing this instant!" Garp roared.

Sensing the intense worry from his grandpa, Luffy jumped off the sea king and onto the small ship.

"Well?" Garp looked his grandson expectedly.

"Well, what?"

"What were you doing in the middle of the sea?! You didn't answer my question!"

"Oh," the boy drawled out and smiled. "Waiting for you. I wanted to make sure Mr. Guardian doesn't eat you."

"Mr. Guardian, huh?" the Vice Admiral eyed narrowed his eyes at the sea king swimming alongside them.

"Yeah! He's awesome! He protects our island and waters our plants!" As if to showoff, the sea king swam ahead of them and flapped his tail, sending a wave large enough to engulf the island, where the three humans could hear some shouts.

Luffy laughed and cheered when the sea king came back to tow the ship to shore.

Three angry and wet teenagers ran up to them and each one of them bopped the young teen on the head. That was then followed by the Fists of Love.

Law stumbled as he wasn't excluded like last time. "What hell was that for, you crazy old man!"

"That is punishment for hitting Luffy," Garp laughed.

Sengoku sighed at Garps usual antics. "Garp, please tell me why you brought me here, wherever here is."

"I have no idea where we are," Garp said with a finger up his nose.

"Used-to-be-green Island," Sabo answered.

"Huh? What kind of name is that?" Garp asked.

"Lu-ya named it. It really used to be green until it burned down. We're trying to grow back the plants," Law answered.

"We didn't do it!" Both Ace and Sabo yelled at their grandpa's look.

"Right," Sengoku sighed again. "So why am I here?"

"Why, to meet your grandson, of course," Garp beamed.

"Garp," his superior heaved another sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was all he does around his old friend nowadays. "You and I both know I have no children to have any grandchildren."

"True, but you, O-tsuru, and I all know that you thought of Rosinante as your own son."

Sengoku snapped his head towards the boys, then looked at Law, who spoke with a scowl, "I'm not calling you grandpa."

"Come on, boys. Why don't you show your grandpa your island?" Garp lead the other three away.

Sengoku dropped himself on the sand were they stood and looked pointedly at Law to do the same. "What's your name?" he finally said after a moment of them gauging each other.

"Trafalgar Law."

The marine sighed and dropped his head, relief clear in his voice. "I'm glad Rosinante's death wasn't in vain. Tell me. Tell me about those six months that he disappeared off our radar with you. Was he happy? Were you happy with him? How did you get along? Tell me anything. It's been far too long since I've heard of him. You know, he told me about a crazy kid with Amber Lead Syndrome joining his brother's gang. Then all of a sudden he calls to tell me he's going to find a cure for the damn kid and disappears for half a year. The last I heard from him, he tipped us off about Doflamingo wanting to steal the Op-Op fruit. That was also the first time he's lied to me. He said he wouldn't be there. I told him to not go, since I knew it would be dangerous. He shouldn't have been there," he pounded the sand in anguish.

Law took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He could hear how much the old man next to him cared for Cora-san and realized he's talked about himself more in the last year or so than he has in his entire life. He told Sengoku everything from those torturous six months, to the spy, the first Corazon. He told of how the man who cared for him laughed and how clumsy he was, of his many times of burning his own coat and tripping over nothing. He left nothing out, even things he hasn't told anyone else, yet, because of how close he wanted to keep them to himself. And yet, he felt he should tell this man who morns the loss of a person who thought of him as a son.

Sengoku laughed sadly. "So he died with a smile, did he? I'm glad. I'm glad that he died doing something that made him happy. But Vergo … I'll keep an eye on him. It wouldn't do to out him yet. Doflamingo may send someone else to infiltrate the marines. Now, tell me about yourself. How have you been avoiding Doflamingo, and how the hell did you end up with Garp's grandsons anyway?"

"I've been island hoping and keeping an ear out for Doflamingo-ya's men. As for those three…" Law trailed off, not knowing how to explain that he'd join Whitebeard. Gard did specifically request this meeting to be away from the pirates.

"They're with Whitebeard," Garp said seriously, as he walked towards them without the three boys. He held out a hand before his boss could chew them out. "They're safe there. It's why I willingly left my precious grandsons with him. Sengoku, Newgate saved my boys when the marines couldn't do anything."

"How did you end up with Whitebeard of all people?!"

"Lu – I mean Luffy-ya found me, knocked out two of Joker's men that were after me, even though I didn't need the help, and dragged me off to their birthday party. One thing lead to another, and I stayed?" Law looked confused at the turn of event. "Let's just say I got kidnapped by the kid. It's been almost two years since."

He then had a horrified look as their ship came to view. This caused the two marines to turn their heads to look behind them.

"Garp?" Sengoku growled as the boat with a black flag with the ASL symbol over Whitebeard's expertly came to a stop right next to their smaller ship.

"Before you say anything, it's just my three. Law has nothing to do with it, and they have a very good reason for attacking that base. They took Sabo from them just because some noble paid them to," Garp explained. "Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, and that's their own personal ship, Flight for Freedom."

Sengoku sobered, remembering what a distraught Garp had once said years back about his missing grandson and again a year later with the same news about his other two grandsons. All he ever wanted was for them to live freely. "Is what Blackbeard said about you true? You work for pirates?"

"Sengoku, my job is important to me but so is my family, especially those three. If by the off-chance they're ever caught by the marines, it's because they're stupid for being caught. That will be their own fault. I won't do anything to help them. Just know that Whitebeard nor my grandsons would never attack anyone unprovoked. So what will it be, Fleet Admiral?" Garp said challengingly.

There goes another sigh. Why is it so tiring to deal with this man? "I can't let you go, Garp. You know that. You're too valuable to the marines, even if you are a pain in the ass. What can I do? It seems I also have a pirate grandson." He ignored Law's protest of not being his grandson. "I guess we old people will just have to watch over them the best we can and hope for the best. Got anymore senbei?"

Garp took a seat next to his old friend and held out his opened pack of rice crackers, as the three of them watch the three boys get off their ship and argue with each other.

"You know, I'm glad _my_ grandson isn't as idiotic as your three," Sengoku said.

"For your information, Law thought my Luffy was a girl for a good two weeks," Garp said smugly.

Sengoku spat out his senbei and turned to give Law an incredulous look. "How can you mistaken that for a girl?!"

"It was a prank the whole ship was on. They introduced him to me as a girl. He was wearing a dress, and it actually looked good on him," Law defended himself. "Watch. Lu-ya, come here." He waited for the boy to come close to them and opened up his travel bag to hand over a dress. "Try it on."

Luffy cheered at receiving a new dress and took of his t-shirt and held his arms up, waiting for Law to put it on for him. "See? Cute," Law pointed to Luffy, who was spinning in his new dress. The crossdressing boy soon dragged Law over to where Ace and Sabo were, leaving the two Marines, one smug and one baffled.

"Garp, please tell me he isn't Dragon's son."

"I can't."

"There's no way. How did that happen?"

"I have no idea."

"Are you even sure that's your grandson?"

Garp shrugged. "They say his name's Luffy, and he's around the right age. Too many coincidence. What am I to say? I think he is. He even looks a little like his dad when he was younger."

The both sat in silence, watching the boys argue with wild gestures with Luffy laughing at the three of them. Then the three older boys were on top of each other, throwing punches, kicks, and rolling around the sand.

"How old are they supposed to be?"

"Law's 18 and the other two are 16. Luffy's 13," Garp grinned at the sight of the boys being boys.

"Are you sure they're not 8 and 6?"

"Leave them be. Those three haven't had much of a normal childhood. Not that it's normal now, but at least they're able to relax."

They sat in comfortable silence until Ace and Sabo held up both of their fiery fists as the three of them stood in a light blue circular like room and Law held up his sword at them.

"Think we should stop them?" Sengoku asked, slightly surprised at the fire being produced by two separate persons. Never in his very many years of working in the Marines has he ever heard of two people with the same devil fruit powers at the same time. But right now, he's more worried about the kids harming themselves. He can ask about their powers later. Who knows, maybe they were two different fruits with almost similar powers.

"That might be a good idea," Garp said as he furrowed his brows and got up. "My two older ones tend to get out of hand, or so I heard."

The two got up to walk to the teens. They saw Luffy, who was laughing at his brothers, turn his head to wave at them with a grin, but the grin dropped and he looked back to his fighting brothers and back to the older pair and back to his brothers. The next thing they knew, Ace, Sabo, and Law were sent sailing out towards the middle of ocean.

"Law!" Sengoku screamed as he ran towards the beach, but they were too far away for him to swim or get the boat to them in time. Not that he could remember that he couldn't swim either.

Garp, on the other hand, stomped right to Luffy, who had grinned at him but then looked terrified, and gave him a haki infused fist right on the head.

The boy clutched his head in pain and looked up to his grandpa with tears in his eyes. "Grandpa hit me," he sniffled. "That hurts."

Sengoku had walked up to them and placed a hand on Garp's shoulder. "They're fine," the Fleet Admiral said in relief.

Garp turned his head to look over his shoulder and gave his boss a look of confusion. "Of course they're fine. Why wouldn't they be?"

"Your grandson just sent your other two grandsons and my grandson flying out to the middle of the ocean and none of them can swim! Why aren't you more worried? That confirms it. He's defiantly your grandson. No one else would be stupid enough to do something like that!" Sengoku felt the sudden need to throw the man into the ocean. "As a matter of fact, why wasn't your first reaction to swim out there to save them?"

"Oh. That's because Luffy would never intentionally hurt those boys," Garp stated.

"How can you be so sure of that? Who knows what kinds of things he's been learning from living with pirates!" Sengoku pointed an accusing finger at the young teen.

"You wanna fight?" Luffy asked with his fists raised and ready for the irate marine.

"Luffy!" They all turned to look towards the ocean where the voices came from. Law, Ace, and Sabo were standing on the head of the sea king Luffy had been on earlier. The three of them jumped off as soon as the sea king brought them close enough. Ace and Sabo both hit Luffy on the head as Law stood protectively between them and the marines.

"Don't fight him!" Ace and Sabo said as they both sent their fists down.

"But why!"

"Because he's the marine boss!"

"Yeah, but -"

"No!"

"Lu-ya," Law cut in tiredly, "Why did you hit us with your bazooka?"

"Hm? Oh, because Grandpa's friend wanted you to stop fighting," Luffy said proudly with a smile.

"So?" His three brothers asked with their arms crossed, as if the response was stupid.

"He was worried for Trao!" He raised both hands happily in the air in a cheer. "Your grandpa was worried about you."

Law turned to give Sengoku a glare. "So you think I wouldn't be able to beat those two?"

Sengoku pinched the bridge of his nose. "Here I thought you were the older, more responsible, more reasonable of the group."

"Believe me, I am," Law deadpanned.

Garp smacked the older teen on the back with a laugh. "Don't be like that. Senny, here, was worried about you boys using your devil's fruit and things getting out of hand."

"But we do that all the time. How else are we supposed to train?" Ace and Sabo argued.

"There's no arguing that," Garp said to his boss.

"That didn't mean the little one had to throw you into the ocean to get you boys to stop," Sengoku sighed.

"Lu-ya wouldn't have done that if you weren't needlessly worried about us," Law crossed his arms as he glared at Sengoku.

"Must have been really worried if Luffy had to resort to sending us out to the guardian," Ace said with a grin.

"That must have made him worry even more, Ace," Sabo smacks the back of his brother's head before turning to Luffy. "Lu, if you knew Trao's grandpa was worried, why did you bazooka us out to sea?"

"Because that was the fastest way to stop you," he said with a smile before he frowned. "I didn't think it'd scare him though."

"Lu-ya," Law moaned with his hand on his face, "three devil's fruit users getting tossed into the ocean, who wouldn't be worried? We can't swim," he explained when the boy looked confused. "Normal people would be worried about us drowning. They don't know that the sea king out there would save us."

"Ooooh."

"Now that you understand, apologize for scaring the old geezer," Sabo said. The Fleet Admiral sputtered at his new title.

The thirteen-year-old walked up to the fleet admiral and bowed, "Please accept my humble apology for, um … scaring you shitless." He got up from his bow, ignoring the two older men's look of surprise, to look at Sabo. "Did I do that right?"

His three brothers were stifling their laughter the boy's wordings.

"Almost," Sabo said breathless from holding in his laugh. "It's not 'for scaring you shitless.' It should be 'for startling you with my thoughtless act.'"

"Oh, okay." Luffy turned back around to bow at Sengoku once more. "Please accept my humble apology for startling you with my thoughtless act." He looked back up to see both men looking baffled.

"Why?" Garp finally managed to ask.

"Why what?" both Ace and Sabo asked back with twin grins.

"Why did you do that to my Luffy?!" Garp yelled at them.

"Why not?" Law smirked. "I don't see any problems with it. I find it quiet amusing. A pirate with the words of high nobility."

"Sabo," Garp said threateningly with his fist raised.

"There's a very good reason for this, I swear," Sabo quickly defended himself from Garp's Fist of Love. He heaved a relived sigh when Garp lowered his fist. "I thought it'd be a good idea to teach him and Ace some manners, since, you know, they both were never taught any. And you do have to admit, Ace did have the foulest mouth you could ever find on a kid. You really did, Ace. It's just not as bad now. And well, Luffy needs to learn too, right? Wait, wait," he covered his head with his arms when Garp raised his fist once more. "Trao and I thought it'd be funny to teach Luffy to be super polite!" He risked opening his left eye to see what Garp's reaction was.

To his surprise, Garp sighed and ran his hand over his face in resignation. "Whatever. It's not like I have much say in how you raise the brat. How's his studying going anyway?"

"Great," Law ruffled Luffy's hair, causing the boy to giggle. "He's even reading some of my medical books. He doesn't understand a thing in them, but he's reading them."

"That's because he doesn't pay attention to what he picks up," Ace groaned. "He just reads whatever he gets his hands on, and then someone has to explain whatever he doesn't understand. It's so annoying. Most of the time, the explanation ends up being a mystery."

"Yeah, but at least now everyone's learned to hide their personal stash," Sabo laughed. "Once, he picked up one of Vista's porn novel. We told Luffy to go read it to Grandpops. That was so funny. Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened to him read it until Vista finally realized it was his book that was being read out loud and took it from him."

"How far into the book did he get, and when was this?" Garp moaned in his hand from here he slumped onto the sandy beach.

"Far enough that even Grandpops was blushing," Ace and Sabo grinned.

"A few days after that," Law said. "Someone told Marco-ya when he came back from a mission, and the man chewed everyone off for not stopping the kid earlier and for everyone to make sure there aren't any more inappropriate things laying around."

"How did you boys manage to tame a sea king," Sengoku asked as he watched the sea beast swim away quickly when Luffy's stomach gave a loud growl.

"We have food at the house," Sabo said as he picked up his cross-dressing brother and walked away without waiting to see if the others followed.

"Lu-ya promised the sea king that we wouldn't eat it if it protect our island and water the plants while we're away," Law explained as they all followed the blond.

"But how did he even get a _sea king_ to listen to him?"

"Easy," Ace shrugged, "he fed it. It even sometimes brings friends."

"Please, don't ask anymore," Garp sighed resignedly. "The kid is strange. It's what happens when you let kids raise a kid. Just wait to you see their 'house.'"

Law trailed back to walk with the older men. "Speaking of strange kids, the three of them don't have any sexual drive. All their hormones are directed to their metabolisms and Luffy's endless stamina. Kobato-ya and Izo-ya sat them down for _the talk_ already. None of them seem interested."

"Not interested?!" Garp gasped, then thought of something. "Great-grand kids?" he nearly whimpered.

"Might not ever happen. They don't even give beautiful women a second glance," Law shrugged. "Not even good looking men. They do seem interested in each other though. Did you know they still sleep together?" He's going to leave out the fact that he sleeps with them.

Garp stopped in his tracks, trying to get his thought process back in order, while everyone else continues on without him. He remembers when he was their age he was ogling women left and right. Ace and Sabo are sixteen. They should at least be curious about the opposite sex.

Sengoku raised an eyebrow at Law's evil grin.

"Revenge for hitting me," Law huffed.

"So you lied to him?"

"No," Law mumbled before stalking off towards the trio in front of them.

Once the 'house' was in view, Sengoku paused in his steps to study the skeletal building. It's a decent sized home for the four teens, but it was the shape that was beginning to take shape that stopped him.

"Luffy wanted a castle, like the ones in the fairy tale books," Ace explained, knowing full well how strange it looked. "He wants a moat and a drawbridge to top it off. We're lucky that he doesn't really know how big castles are supposed to be."

The fleet admiral couldn't only shrug and go along with it. He's given up. He's been around Garp long enough to deal with strange things. He's also heard the man bawl his eyes out when the kids were taken and his loud boisterous cheer when he found out they were still alive. His friend never did tell him how they were rescued. Seeing that the boys were with Whitebeard, he supposed it's best that he didn't know. Ignorance is bliss, after all. Or is 'plausible deniability ' more appropriate? Now he wished Garp hadn't told him they were with Whitebeard.

Who was he kidding? He'd still want to know where they were staying for his own peace of mind. Better Whitebeard than any other pirates.

That brings up another question, "Who's Grandpops?"

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** And Garp didn't really say he is or isn't working with pirates.

My life schedule will be back to normal this week, but I will try to update as quick as I can. Just less than 10 chapters left.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

 _Understand that the universe  
is giving you challenges to  
help you to become the  
greatest version of yourself._

 _\- unknown_

The Whitebeard pirates once again left New World to check up on a few islands in Paradise. They sailed here and there, to different islands to make sure there were no trouble caused in their territories. Months later, they were ready to head back.

This is the fifth time Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had been here at Sabaody, the first for Law. Just like the few times they've been here, the four of them had to stay on the ship in fear of one of Doflamingo's men spotting them. The Warlord had his hands in slave trading after all.

At least this time they were hidden at grove 89, in the uninhabited area. They were at least allowed to walk on land, as long as they stayed within grove 85 through 89. Three members from Division 2 stayed with them to watch over the ship and the four teenagers. The rest of the crew split up to buy supplies and find Rayleigh.

"I wish we could go to this amusement park everyone keeps talking about," Ace said as he kicked a random rock in his path. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh, right," Blist said from behind the four teenagers, "You brats have never been to an amusement park before, have you?"

"No. Some of the books we've read talked about them. Sounds like fun," Sabo sighed wistfully. "I want to ride one of those Ferris Wheel. I heard the view from the top is beautiful."

"I wanna ride a jet coaster," Luffy made a sound effect of a fast moving object while moving a hand in a motion of a roller coaster.

"I'm almost sure being flung by your rocket is about the same," Law deadpanned. "Fast and dangerous."

The Division 2 members laughed. "Yeah, but at least jet coasters have brakes, and you wouldn't have to worry about landing on your head," Henry commented in between laughs.

"That's right," Prem agreed.

They talked and walked around while waiting for Rayleigh, always keeping Moby Dick within sight. The ship coater came after they finished their lunch.

"You know," Blist said thoughtfully as Rayleigh worked in the background, "We could put you guys in a disguise. That way you can walk around, and no one would recognize you."

"Unless you're Luffy," Sabo grumbled, remembering the time he lost his sight.

"Oh, come on," Prem smacked the blond on the back. "There aren't that many people with that kind of skill. I think it's a great idea. Sabaody is a place you have to see. Besides, when Luffy decides to sail off on his own, he's going to have come here eventually to get to New World."

"I don't think it's a good idea," Henry said. "We're going to get into so much trouble. Marco specifically said to not let them go anywhere near the towns."

"But he didn't say we couldn't go if we weren't us. Can't get in trouble if they don't find out," Ace grinned.

"Jet Coaster!" Luffy cheered.

"Law, you're sanest of the four. Put some sense into them," Henry begged, not wanting to get in trouble with Marco.

Law tried to weigh the pros and cons but was only able to think about how happy Lu would be. "Why don't we ask Rayleigh-ya to take us after he finishes? It'd be safer with someone who knows the area."

"Rayleigh!" Luffy took off to find the old ship coater.

Rayleigh agreed to guide them after he finished under the condition that they listen to him. If he says they have to leave, then they leave.

After he finished, he found all four boys, now in dresses and wigs, disguised as girls, waiting for him with the other three pirates. He needed to drop off his tools first, so he led them towards Shakky's at Grove 13. As soon as they stepped onto the first grove into lawless area, Luffy paused.

"What's wrong, Luffy?" Ace asked.

"I don't know. Feels weird here," was all he said before continuing walking.

As they walked closer towards the middle of the archipelago, Luffy started to walk slower.

"Luffy, you okay?" Ace asked once again.

"There're lots of people crying," Luffy said quietly, tears slowly coming down. "Can you hear them?"

"We don't hear anything, Lu-ya. Are you sure?" Law asked.

Rayleigh stopped a few steps ahead of the group and turned back around to walk back towards them. "Maybe this isn't a good idea. Let's get you boys back to the ship." He's met a few people like Luffy, who can hear the voices of people's heart. Sabaody, where slave trading is legal, isn't a place for people like them. If he'd known Luffy was one who could hear the voices, he wouldn't have agreed. The kid was too young to be able to control his emotions.

Luffy nodded as he shook. He didn't like it here where he can hear so many people crying, pleading to be freed. The longer he stayed there, the more he could hear. The boy sniffled and tried to stop his tears, but they kept on coming.

Law picked him up when he noticed Luffy's crying wouldn't stop.

"They want to be free," Luffy sniffled, burying his face into Law's shoulder. "Why can't they be free?"

He didn't know how to answer, instead looked to the older, more experience pirate.

Rayleigh sighed and placed a hand on Luffy's head. "There are things we can't change. There will always be people who thinks they are above others and nothing we do or say will make them change their minds. This is the world we live in."

They were nearing Grove 20 when someone ran towards them and the many people walking around. He ran around, asking people, begging for someone to get his collar off, that he had a family to go back to.

Luffy turned his head to see what was going on and tensed and shook even harder at what he saw. He knows how that man feels. He was angry that someone would do something like this to someone else.

Rayleigh, sensing Luffy's mood, turned to Law. "We have to get him out of here quickly before he does something stupid." The old coater could feel small amounts of haki seeping out of the small boy. Not just any type of haki, but one that few people have mastered, Conqueror's Haki. Things could get a little troublesome if that was released in a place full of people. Not to mention, if that slave was here, it means the Tenryuubitos aren't too far behind.

But it was too late. The bomb collar went off, killing the runaway slave. Luffy stilled in shock as he saw the whole thing. Law swore could feel the boy in his arm stop breathing for a moment.

"Boy, don't do anything. All you can do is cause trouble, and that's something I would like to avoid," Rayleigh said in warning.

Two Tenryuubitos, an older male and a female, came before they could get far enough away, causing them to hide in between two buildings. The Tenryuubitos didn't seem to care that the man died. Instead they just belittled him and called him names, even kicking the dead man.

Law held the boy even tighter when even he felt the rage boiling. Luffy couldn't see anything that was happening from his position, but he could hear them. Law had to do something soon before Luffy does "something stupid," as Rayleigh said.

"Rayleigh-ya, I'm taking him back to the ship right now. Room. Shambles," he didn't even wait for a reply and just disappeared.

They landed on Grove 83, not too far from Moby Dick. It wasn't a moment too soon as Luffy lost control over his emotions and let out his Conqueror's Haki, shaking the whole mangrove around them. Law was sure he even heard the one under them creak from the pressure that was released by the boy.

The older boy felt weak in the knees and knelt down to keep his balance and shake his head to clear the black spots from his vision after having to put Luffy down. The poor boy looked so lost and sad, with his tears pouring out as he cried and lashed out at anything and everything in his path.

Law just leaned back into a tree, leaving the boy to relieve his frustration. That is until Luffy managed to take down one of the tree with one punch. The older teen groaned, realizing that he has to somehow calm his sister down before some curious idiot comes by to see what happened.

He thought about how to stop him. What can he do by himself? Hell, even some of the commanders admitted Luffy is stronger than them when he goes all out. Another tree went down, and he shakily stood up and called out to his sister. There was no way in hell his conscious would let him cut his sister, even knowing it wouldn't hurt her.

"Lu-ya! Calm down before someone comes by!" Luffy continued on, not hearing him. Law ran towards the boy to try to pin him, but Luffy evaded him and continued to vent his frustration at the world on another grove.

This continued for another ten minutes before Ace and Sabo showed up. They yelled Luffy's name as they also rushed at him at the same time, only to be punched by a haki infused fist, sending them both back into a tree. The impact caused the grove to flame up, burning the poor tree.

They got back up, and the three of them fought their brother. Rayleigh and the three Division 2 members showed up not too long after and joined in. Eventually, the old coater managed to kick Luffy in the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Once they were sure the boy wouldn't get back up, they all slumped down in relief. Rayleigh took a look around to survey the damage. It looked like all of Grove 80-89 were gone. Even some of the roots have sunken, leaving a few small lake-like areas. From where they were, they can see their ship in plain sight, no longer hidden behind the tall trees.

It didn't take long before Whitebeard's crew slowly showed up to see what had happened. The commanders and Whitebeard being the first as they had a head start after sensing the strong haki coming from the direction of their ship.

Under his captain's command, Jiru quickly called everyone back to the ship. They had to leave soon. There was no way the government is going to let this one go. Someone would be here soon to investigate.

Blist, Prem, and Henry apologized profusely to Marco and Whitebeard, only to be cut off by Rayleigh.

"No. It's my fault for agreeing to take them. I thought it wouldn't hurt if it was just for a few hours. I apologize for the lapse in judgement."

Marco just heaved a sigh with a hand to his forehead. "No-yoi. This was bound to happen. They're teenagers who just wants to go exploring. I should have expected them to want to take a look around-yoi. We also should have warned you about Luffy's ability."

They were deep under the sea, half way to Fishman Island, when Luffy woke up to seeing Whitebeard sitting on the edge of his infirmary bed, with Law, Ace, and Sabo sitting on the next bed over.

"I heard what happened," the old man said softly, signaling the three boys to stay where they were to give their brother time. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Luffy stared at the ceiling for a minute before saying anything. "Grandpops. Why?"

"Why, indeed," Whitebeard sighed as he looked out the window, thinking of how to answer Luffy's many question. "The Tenryuubito believe themselves to be higher than the rest of the world. They believe themselves as gods. As a matter of fact, the government itself works under them. If anyone were to attack a Tenryuubito, an Admiral would come. That is something even I would want to avoid. Everyone, even pirates, are afraid to go against a Tenryuubito because of that."

Luffy nodded in understanding, even if it didn't make much sense to him. Are the Tenryuubito that strong?

Whitebeard continued. "You should never think of the strength you have as a curse given to you by Doflamingo. Think of it as a gift to protect your friends and family. The world may think of you as a monster because of your ability and your blood, but what they think should not matter. What matters is what we, your family, think of you.

"Just as you can't change the color of the sun, there things you can't change: People fear the Tenryuubito, there will be slaves you can't save, marines will always chase pirates, Fishman Island will always be under the sea, you will always be my son even when you set sail with your own crew. You need to learn to control that temper of yours. You will see many things that you won't like in the future, things you can do nothing about. We won't always be there to stop you the next time you have temper tantrum," he winked at the boy who blushed.

"Sorry."

"Also, by recommendation of Rayleigh, you are not to set foot on Sabaody again for your safety and for the safety of your future crew. When the time comes where you have to stop there to get your ship coated, stay on your ship, do not get off. Rayleigh can be very scary if angered." Whitebeard chuckled.

"Grandpops, will I be a good captain like you? Will I be strong enough to protect my crew like you?"

"That all depends on you. You are a good person with a very big heart. You are smarter than many people give you credit for. I, personally, think you will be a great captain. Just remember that we all have weaknesses. In order to be strong, you have to learn your weaknesses. Even I have many weaknesses. As a matter of fact, I have over a thousand of them," Whitebeard laughed. "We, as captains, must protect our friends and family as best as we can."

Luffy shifted to the side of the bed to hug Whitebeard's knee. "You're the greatest. I hope I can find a crew as great as my brothers and sisters and be a great captain like you. If I can do that, then I know I can find One Piece and be the freest person in the world."

Whitebeard placed a large hand over the boy's back. "I know you will. You are my grandson." The fact that he has grandsons still brings him joy. "I don't doubt that you will achieve your dream. Now, why don't you cheer up and go see your siblings. They're all worried about you. Prem, Blist, and Henry all blame themselves for what happened, you know."

"Why? It's not their fault. They're not in trouble are they?" Luffy looked at the man with worried eyes.

"No, of course they're not in trouble. They just feel responsible since they were put in charge of watching over you four."

Luffy hurried and scrambled out of bed and dragged Ace and Sabo, leaving Law to follow them, to find his other brothers to apologize to them.

The whole ship heard what had happened and felt bad for the boy. They understood and didn't blame the him for the temper tantrum. No one on board likes the thought of slavery.

Once Luffy came out of the infirmary, everyone cheered and turned down his apologies since there was nothing to apologize for. Instead they partied their way to their next destination to cheer the boy up. It didn't take much for their sun to shine brightly again.

They were all laughing and joking about what the newspaper would say about the missing groves.

-*/-*/-*/

A day after their week-long stay at Fishman Island, the newscoo delivered them the newspaper with the latest update on Sabaody Archipelago. What was written was nothing anyone guessed.

Apparently there was one very brave, very curious, and very stupid news reporter that was able to witness the destruction that took place but got knocked out by a fallen tree before the rest of the Whitebeard crew arrived. He luckily was hidden behind a downed grove, or the pirates would have taken him with them to avoid having a witness.

There were pictures of Luffy knocking down a tree with a single punch, Law slicing down a tree (in an attempt to trip Luffy), Ace burning down a tree with a fiery punch (also in an attempt to stop the out of control boy), and Sabo burning down a tree with flames coming out of his back (after being knocked into the tree by Luffy). Their faces showing up clear in the pictures, with their wigs haven fallen off some time ago. There was also a picture of the aftermath, after a marine found the reporter and woken him up.

Someone in the marine had recognized all four of their faces and claimed that it was the doing of ASL, although he was pretty confused as to why they were wearing female clothing this time around. The marine's speculation was that the boys were okamas.

There were no mention of names or Whitebeard. Now the world has a clear picture to go with their wanted poster, though there were no names. Their bounty has risen again, to an amount of 60 million beli each. Though they couldn't figure out if it was all four that were part of the ASL group or just three Children from Hell. ASL only had three letters after all.

"Trao is one of us now," both Ace and Sabo declared at that section of the article.

"He and Lu can both be L," Sabo concluded.

The article went on to speculate that the reason for their destruction on the mangrove is because the four of them were having a competition as to who could take down the most grove.

"Well," Thatch laughed, "if things didn't go the way it did, I'm almost positive that'd be something you four would do."

"Did they have to use that picture?" Sabo whined. "A dress! They have a picture of me in a dress!"

"Aww, but I think you look cute," Izo assured him. "You boys should follow Lu's example and wear dresses more often."

"Someone get a camera, quick!" Ace demanded. "We're sending them a better picture."

"Give it up, Ace-ya," Law sighed. "This is a week-old newspaper. The whole world's already seen it."

"Then the next time I see one of those shitty reporter, I'm going to demand they do a retake," Ace said as he raised a flamed fist.

"A dress," Sabo moan as he slumped to the floor. "A dress. The whole world has a picture of me in a dress. I've lost all manliness. Me, a gentleman, in a dress. Okama…"

"I think the worst part is now the whole world has seen Lu-ya in a dress," Law said with a scowl.

"I don't understand," Luffy said, looking to Izo. "What's wrong with wearing a dress? Is it wrong for me to wear a dress?"

"No, Lu," Izo smiled at the boy, "Law's just worried that people will think you're too cute and will kidnap you for themselves."

"Is that why Ace and Sabo want to change their picture?"

"No, they just have no backbone. They don't understand the beauty of feminine wear. Just because you're a man, does not mean you can't wear a dress," Izo glared at them, in which the two returned.

"Luffy is allowed to wear dresses because he wants to, _and_ he looks good in them," Ace crossed his arm.

"I think you look good too," Luffy smiled at him, causing everyone to laugh at Ace's blush. "What's an okama?"

"Okama is a man who wants to be a girl," Law gave a simple explanation.

"Oh, then it's okay," Luffy nodded. "I'm not an okama. I like dresses. I don't want to be a girl. I like being me."

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I'm so happy with all the reviews, favs, and follows~ Thank you! Criticism is welcomed, I like to hear what you think.

FYI: I wanted to fix this chapter more, but I'm so tired, and I really wanted this out as soon as I could. :P Sorry.

Also, I'm all better. Doc gave me more meds on top of everything else I already have. - the reason why I'm so tired.


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

 _Be thankful for the hard times.  
They are heaven sent to  
teach you lessons,  
make you stronger,  
and ultimately lead you to a better destiny._

 _\- unknown_

On the next island, while looking in a bookstore, Luffy excused himself from his three brothers, stating that he saw something he wanted. It took a while of whining that he's a big boy and that he could go out on his own, before they relented and let him go alone. There were a couple of presence that he vaguely recognized from long, long ago. Ones that he wished to never come across ever again. He wanted to investigate alone as to not worry his brothers, hoping he was wrong. If he was wrong, well, he's sure that he could beat these people up.

He followed the presence to a nearby alley to see a very pale-skinned, green-haired woman and a very large man wearing a golden helmet and a weird skirt waiting for him.

"Hello there, little one," Monet greeted. "Enjoy your brief freedom?"

"Who are you?" Luffy asked with his guards up. He could tell they weren't good people

"You don't remember us? After we took such good care of you, too," the woman said with her hand to the side of her face. "I'm Monet, and this is Pica."

"What do you want?" Luffy growled, vaguely remembering the names that connected to Doflamingo.

"Why, to bring you back to where you belong, of course," the woman laughed. "Young Master has been worried about you when you just upped and disappeared seven years ago."

"I'm not going back. You can't make me," he growled with his fists up.

"Oh? What about your friends?" She pointed to the bookstore. Pisca had moved under the rocky road and appeared next to the bookstore where his brothers were.

Luffy's eyes widened, understanding what Pisca is about to do. "Wait! Leave them alone!"

"That can be done. Young Master only needs you. The others are dispensable. I'll come pick you up later tonight, little one. Enjoy your last day of freedom," Monet giggled as she walked deeper into the alley, and Pisca disappeared back into the ground.

-*/-*/-*/

The next morning, Ace walked into the galley and looked around, looking confused.

"What's wrong-yoi?" Marco asked as he entered behind him.

"Morning, Pops. Have you seen Luffy? He was already out of bed by the time we woke up. Thought maybe he was hungry and came to get breakfast before us," Ace asked as he continued his search.

"No, haven't seen him," Marco mused with a hand to his chin. "That's very strange-yoi. He's never up before you three. As a matter of fact, it's hard to get him up at all-yoi."

"Ace!" Sabo's head popped up from the floor board of the galley, causing everyone to turn to him. "Luffy's hat is still down here!"

"Not only that," Law popped his head from the same hole, "our boat is missing. He even took off our flag." He held up the black flag.

"What?!" Ace screamed. "Are you sure?"

"I just looked, dumbass. It's not there."

"We better tell Pops-yoi," Marco turned to leave the galley, the three teens followed.

Whitebeard looked pensive as they reported to him. "Something isn't right," he said. "Something must have happened. Who was in charge of watch last night?"

"Rakuyo. I'll go get him-yoi," Marco said and returned not too long after.

"I've already asked all my men who were on watch with me, Pops," Rakuyo said. "No one saw anyone leaving or coming near the ship all night. I had men in all three crow's nest, and men stationed in every corner of the ship. There was no blind spot. There's no way Little Luffy could have left without someone noticing."

"But he's not on the ship," Law said. "We've looked everywhere and asked everyone. No one's seen him since last night."

"Maybe he left before we departed from the island last night," Rakuyo suggested.

"No," Sabo interjected. "He went to bed with us last night, and that was well after we left the island. Before that, we were eating some snacks."

"All four of us were together when the ship departed," Ace said.

"Wait," Law said thoughtfully. "There was a few minutes where Lu-ya went off on his own yesterday. Remember? It was when we were in the bookstore."

"But he said he saw snacks he wanted," Sabo said. "He even came back with two bags full of them, and he wasn't gone that long."

"Was he acting strange when he came back-yoi?" Marco asked.

"No," Ace answered.

"It's Luffy, we're talking about," Marco said, running a hand through his hair in worry. "He must have snuck out when the watch shift changed-yoi."

"The newspaper," Whitebeard said slowly in thought. "It could be Doflamingo. He must have predicted where we would land next after Fishman Island and sent his men there. They must have threatened him to go with them."

"I know most of Joker-ya's men, and I know for a fact that Lu-ya could have beaten most of them up if he wanted to," Law said, "or at least make enough noise that we'd notice."

"That may be, but what if they struck him where it hurts the most," Whitebeard said sadly. "Think about it. What could possibly cause the boy to follow them willingly?"

Law, Ace, and Sabo slowly came to the realization of what must have happened.

"That's right-yoi," Marco said. "They must have threatened you three somehow, without you boys realizing."

"Dammit!" Ace cursed. "We have to get Luffy back."

"Dressrosa," Law said. "Joker-ya is in Dressrosa, been there for years. We know where he is, and I know the fighting styles of all his family members and the top three executives."

"We know where he's been," Jiru said. At some point, by word of mouth, everyone had gathered around on deck in worry, while the commanders stood around Whitebeard's chair on the upper deck. "That's why we've avoided Dressrosa the whole time you boys have been with us."

Jozu nodded. "We can't act too rashly. He practically has the citizens of Dressrosa as hostages. That's why the government can't do anything about it, not to mention his position as a Warlord."

"Don't worry, my sons," Whitebeard said. "We will make plans, and we'll teach the world why you don't mess with us. We will get our youngest back."

Everyone cheered at that with their weapons drawn and up in the air, a declaration of war against the one that has wronged them.

"I know this isn't the best time for this," Whitebeard looked to Ace and Sabo, "but with the situation as it is, we need to be at our best. Ace, Sabo, I want you both to be commanders of the second division."

"Us?" the both said. "Why us? There are plenty of people that have been here longer."

"It is precisely because it is you two," the captain smiled at them. "Marco has been taking care of both his own division and the second division. We both decided that this position would be perfect for you and started teaching you the ropes in hopes you would be ready to take over in a few years. Why else would he let you take care of some of his duties? With things as it is now, I believe now is a good time for you to take the reins."

"What about Trao?" Sabo asked. "He's older than us, and he's smarter."

"I can't," Law said with a smirk, "because I plan on leaving the same day Luffy-ya leaves. Not to fight him for the seat as the Pirate King, but because I want to have my own adventures with my own crew. Also, to support him when I can. I also think you two would be perfect for the position."

The whole second division below them roared their own approval, having known about it since Marco asked them their opinion about it a couple years back. That was why they've been spending as much time as they could individually with the two boys, so that they would understand each of their strength and weaknesses.

"So what do you say-yoi?" Marco asked.

"If that's what it takes to get our sun back, then we accept," they both grinned.

-*/-*/-*/

After Monet picked him up from the boat he'd stolen, she flew him towards Dressrosa. Now, he was standing before the man who he'd never forget, no matter how young he was when they first met. There was no way to forget that hideous pink feathered coat.

"I'm so glad to have you back," Doflamingo cooed. "It's been so boring without you to entertain me. You are, after all, my prized possession. I heard about how Glem treated you boys horribly. Aren't you glad that he's been disposed of?" The Warlord continued on, not waiting for an answer. "Don't you worry. I won't let anything like that happen to you again. You will be staying here in my country, where I will be taking good care of you. You will always have a comfortable bed, fed to your content, and be trained to be my right-hand man." Doflamingo laughed. "Now then, why don't we have Violet show you to your living quarter. You remember her, right? Of course, you do. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call for her. She will be your caretaker from now on."

Luffy didn't even get a chance to say anything. He didn't feel like saying anything. He could feel the sadness all around the seemingly happy island. He felt like his heart was being crushed. It took everything he had to not shed a tear at the sadness that tried to seep into him. Who knows how Mingo would react to that.

Instead of a room in the castle, like he had first thought, he was led down under the large building and into the prison area. In each of the cells were many sleeping large muscular men, all bandaged and looking worse for wear. They stopped at an empty cell at the end of the corridor. Like promised, there was a large comfortable bed that was out of place in the cold dungeon.

"This is your room. Make yourself comfortable. Breakfast will be served in a few hours. I suggest you sleep until then." She then closed the bars behind him and locked it before leaving him alone.

Luffy looked out the small barred window to see it was still dark out and crawled into his bed, trying to make himself comfortable, but he couldn't sleep. His brothers weren't there with him. The thought of being alone made him cry. At least here the feeling of sadness wasn't as strong. It was more tolerable.

He was startled by the jangle of keys and the creaking of bars. He hadn't noticed it was already morning, with all the tossing turning he did under the plush cover.

"Your breakfast," Violet greeted him with a large plate of fancy omelet and a large cup each of orange juice and milk. "Eat up. Training will start in two days. You can rest until then and get used to your living situation."

There were shouts from all the other prisoners next to him, demanding where the kid came from and why he gets real food while they only get a plate of mush. The glare she sent them had them shut their mouths and turned their glare at him.

Luffy sent his plate a forlorn look before slowly eating. It didn't taste as good as Thatch's, but he was hungry. Thatch had taught him to never waste food, so he ate everything he was given, even if it didn't fill him.

He ignored all strange looks sent his way. He didn't even bother looking at them and kept to himself. What was the point? There was no need to talk to them. The only ones he wanted to talk to right now weren't with him. He looked to the window and hoped Doflamingo kept his promise and his family were safe.

Violet returned with clothes for him to change into and once again left him, only to come back with his extravagant lunch and dinner. How was he supposed to get used to his surroundings if they don't let him out and walk around and explore? At least there was a clean toilet he can use in his cell. He can't even stick his head out the bars too look down the hall. The cell bars were made of seastone to ensure he wouldn't be able to escape. Is this all he's allowed to see?

If it is, then he's already used to it. There's nothing to do. It's boring. The least they can do is give him a good book to read or a game or something. He decided to ask Violet for something the next time she returned the next morning. He hates being bored.

"A book?" Violet asked in surprise the next morning when she brought him his breakfast.

"Yeah. I'm bored."

She laughed. "Young Master would be thrilled to know that you've taken to reading. I'll bring you something from the library. Next time, you don't have to wait for me to come to you. Just say what you want, and I'll come."

Violet brought a few books for him to keep him occupied. Satisfied, he settled down on his plush bed to read, ignoring all the questions from the other prisoners.

He laid in his bed, trying to sleep. After a few hours, he gave up and lit the lamp on the small table next to him and read through the night. No matter how nice and warm the blankets were, it was too cold for him to sleep, having gotten used to always sleeping with someone next to him. It was usually Ace and Sabo and sometimes Trao or Pops.

-*/-*/-*/

The next night, after all the other prisoners had fallen asleep, Luffy tossed and turned. Giving up, he got up and walked along the cell perimeter. One wall made of bricks that would make a lot of noise if he broke it, the other wall that lead to the outside was made of strong rocks that he was sure he could break but would also make a lot of noise, the bars that lead to the hall with the door was made of seastone, and the last one, the one that separated him from the other cell with the prisoners were just regular iron bars.

Luffy thought about it a bit before shrugging and pulled two of the bars on the bottom apart wide enough for him to slip through. He's too tired to go another night without sleep. Once he was in the other cell, he didn't bother to look around and snuggled with the closest person. He was so used to sleeping with his brothers and thought maybe he couldn't sleep because he was alone. The problem was this guy smelled like he needed a bath, not like Ace and Sabo, who always smelled clean. He just sighed and tried to make himself comfortable and finally fell asleep, too tired to care about the smell.

The next morning the prisoners woke up to find Luffy sleeping in their cell. The man Luffy went to sleep with cradled the boy, not wanting to wake him yet, since the kid looked so comfortable, and they all saw how tired he looked yesterday. They were all worried about having someone so young in the prison with them. They tried to get the boy to talk, but he would just ignore them.

"What are you doing with the boy?" They all looked up to see Violet glaring at them, with a plate of breakfast in one hand.

At the sound of her voice, Luffy stirred. "Food?" he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. His nose picked up the smell of eggs. Still not fully awake but hungry enough to want food, he reached out towards where the smell was coming from.

They all stared with wide eyes as the arm stretched over two feet longer than it should be able to reach, only for it to snap back when it touched the bar separating them from Violet.

Now wide awake from his arm snapping back, Luffy sat up and took in his surrounding.

"What are you doing there, Luffy?"

Luffy turned to look at Violet and pouted. "I don't like sleeping alone." He got up and apologized to the guy he snuggled with before crawling back through the iron bars he bent and back to his cell.

Violet entered his cell and set his plate of breakfast on the small table for the boy. "Why didn't you tell us you ate a Devil's Fruit?"

"I thought you knew, that's why there's seastone in here," he pointed to the bars leading to the prison hall.

"All the cells have seastone," she explained. "Anyway, eat your breakfast. I'll be back in an hour for your training."

An hour later she brought him to an armory filled with different kinds of armors and weapons.

"Young Master wants you to disguise yourself. You've already made a name for yourself, and we don't need mass panic once the citizens find out that one of the Demon Children is here on this island," Violet explained. "That and Young Master wants the people to get to know you before he announce you as his right-hand. So a disguise and an alias."

"Aliens?" Luffy tilted his head to the side.

"Alias, it's a fake name so the people doesn't know it's you."

"Oh~" he sang before scrunching his face in thought. "Lucy," he said. Something short and simple, and yet similar to his own name so that his brothers would know it was him.

"All right, Lucy it is. Now you need a disguise."

Luffy immediately picked up a gold helmet and put it on, smiling widely. "I've always wanted to wear one of these," he laughed. "Oh! And this! This is so cool!" He picked up a white beard and mustache that just happened to be here. "It's like playing dress up," he cheered, feeling at lot better about his situation after a night of sleep.

Violet smiled at the boy fondly before leading him out to a colosseum-like arena for his 'training.'

He walked out on the round stage surrounded by water. There was a crowd of spectators to watch. He could feel it again. The sadness he felt when he first set foot on the island kingdom, but it wasn't as strong. He did his best to suppress his haki and the urge to cry. There was no need to make Mingo mad at him for something he can barely control. He gritted his teeth in an attempt to control himself, thinking to himself that this would be good training to control his emotions.

The announcer announced the fighter's name, and Luffy knew what kind of training he was doing. He's fighting, not training. Joker just wants to see what he had learn after being away from his watchful eyes for so long.

His first opponent appeared with a sword. It was the prisoner that kept him warm while he slept. Luffy wasn't too keen on beating the guy up after helping sleep, but he didn't have a choice. He looked up and saw Mingo watching him.

Violet didn't give him a weapon, so he suppose this training required him to fight a swordsman barehanded. It didn't take very long at all. All it took was a few dodge and a single punch to the man's face, and the show was over. He did his best as to not hurt the man too much.

The man was dragged off the stage and another took his place. This went on for a few hours before he was led back to his room, tired and exhausted from fighting that many alone. They weren't strong, but fighting for that long tired him out. At least he won each match. Doflamingo wouldn't be able to get mad at him if he won.

"You know, kid," the first man he knocked out said, "you're more than welcome to sleep here with us. We have no idea why Doflamingo would keep a kid like you here with us, but if it helps you sleep, you're more than welcome to." The other prisoners nodded their agreement.

"But I beat you guys up today," Luffy said softly, feeling guilty.

"You didn't have a choice, did you?" Luffy shook his head. "Then no hard feelings. You're really strong for a kid."

Luffy lit up at the compliment, and they all chatted merrily, with Luffy telling them stories of his trainings and adventures with his brothers and the rest of his family.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I hate getting old. The older I get, the more I find out how much my body hates me. Friday, I learned that my muscles are lazy. Damn droopy eyelids. Makes me wonder what's next to fall apart on me. I'm not even that old yet! I suck at this whole getting old business. T_T Sorry for the rant. It's bothering me more than it should. At least I don't have anything life threatening. As they say, 'Not everyday is a bad day, ...' I prefer laughing and happy things anyway.

On a happier note, or not, we're now dealing with the Pink Bastard. And the next chapter is a little longer. ^_^v


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

 _If it has to be forced,  
_ _it usually ends up being ugly.  
Whatever it is, allow it to manifest  
and unfold spontaneously, naturally._

 _\- Akin Olokun_

A month passed, each day the same as the next. Breakfast, lunch, training, dinner, bed. If he wasn't tired yet, he would read the books Violet brought to him. They weren't as interesting as the ones Sabo would give him, but at least it gave him something to do.

Some of Doflamingo's family would 'train' with him, since the other gladiators weren't strong enough for him. He's even had to fight Violet a few times. The family members were tough, but he had a feeling they went easy on him. Since they were going easy on him, he did the same, not showing them everything he knew.

Grandpops and the family had taught him to never show all his cards to enemies, to keep it for when it's really needed as a surprise. There was no need for Doflamingo to know everything about him.

He would get one day a week to rest. On those days, Violet would spend time with him, and one day she taught him to play chess.

"You remembered how each piece move quick," Violet said as he took her pawn. "Young Master would be proud to know this. Though you need to learn where to move the pieces better."

He ignored the remark. It seems 'Young Master' is proud of anything he does. Luffy's just glad to have something to pass the time. At least the other prisoners were fun to talk to. They ignore him when Violet comes, though.

The only good thing is that no one has treat him badly. Everything he asked for, he was given. Though it felt weird to ask for it when the person wasn't there. The first time he did it, he was thirsty and said so out loud. Not too long after, Violet showed up with a glass of water for him. If he wanted a snack, if he wanted second helping of food, Violet would always show up soon after with something for him.

-*/-*/-*/

"If you're not going to eat that, mind sharing?" one of the men in the cell next to his asked one evening.

Luffy looked down at his plate of uneaten food and shook his head. "Trust me. You wouldn't want this," he said as the stabbed at his plate. He hasn't been eating as much as he used to when he started tasting something strange in his food a week ago, the reason for not asking for seconds lately.

"What did you say, you brat? Don't you know that you get treated better than anyone else here? Stop wasting food and share some," the man reprimanded. "That reminds me, we've never asked, but who are you anyway? You're in a prison and yet get treated so much better than the rest of us."

"I'm just a tool, nobody important. And really, you don't want this." Luffy tore a piece of his bread and tossed it towards a mouse in the corner his cell. They all watched in horror as the mouse died not long after eating the offered food. "Don't worry. My brother would like you. He doesn't like wasting food either." He gave the man a smile.

The man was suddenly taken aback by the smile that didn't belong when faced with poisoned food. "How – how can you keep eating if you knew?"

"Hm? Because I was taught to not waste food," Luffy answered as if that was the most obvious answer. "I'm getting used to it. Besides, Mingo doesn't want to kill me. If he did, he would have done so already, instead of bringing me here."

The prisoners looked at the boy sadly. After getting to know Luffy, he's been their bright light in the dreary cells. Even after being thoroughly beaten by the boy at least once each, they felt the need to protect him. But what can they do? They're just as stuck as he is in their prison.

-*/-*/-*/

The next day, she brought him a some fancy clothes that Doflamingo wants him to wear out.

"Can you help me? I don't know how to put these on. My brothers always dress me," he held the pile of clothes out to her. He took off his shirt and waited for her.

"You can't dress yourself? Well, that explains why your shirt buttons always look off."

"The slip-over shirts you give are so much easier to wear," he proudly.

"You've worn some of those T-shirts backward."

"I did? Why didn't you say so?" he pouted to which she giggled.

"It's noisy outside," Luffy commented as she helped him dress.

"You can hear it from here?" She asked curiously. She, herself, couldn't hear the commotion from where they were. "Young Master wishes for you to take care of some troublemakers. Hence the clothes. He wants you to make a good impression on the citizens, since you'll be representing him."

"What did they do?"

"What they did is not of importance," she said. "What is important is that the Young Master wants you to get rid of them for him." After putting on his helmet and beard, she lead him out of the cell.

Once Violet opened the door leading to the outside, Luffy cringed at the sounds of crying voices. It was much louder out here. The sounds left a heavy feeling in his heart, and he struggled just to move his feet forward.

Walking through the town, he noticed something he didn't when he first came. There were toys walking and talking on their own. No one else seemed to think anything strange of it, so he didn't think to ask about them. They looked just as happy as the people living there, but he could hear them, even if they didn't say it out loud.

"I'm human." "It's me. Don't you remember me?" "Doflamingo did this to us." "I'm not a toy." "I'm not a toy." "I'm not a toy!" "I'M NOT A TOY!" "Help me."

"Violet," Luffy's somber tone caught her attention. She turned to look at him and stopped in her tracks, lowering her hand in an attempt to wipe away the slow steady stream of tears.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked in concern. She could feel an oppress aura seeping around them, thinking it might be the cause of the boy's problem, though she wasn't sure where it was coming from.

"Does it matter how I take care of them?" his voice cracked as he asked.

"Young Master just says for you to get rid of them. Is there a problem? If you can't do it, I can talk to Young Master for you," she offered kindly, giving up on stopping his tears.

"Okay," he calmly moved towards where he could feel the disturbance, with Violet following behind this time. "The sooner I can go back to my room, the better I'll feel."

Once they reached the area near the ocean but not close enough for him to see the sea, he found the disturbance Doflamingo wanted him to take care of. There was a small group of pirates scaring the citizens of Dressrosa, demanding for Doflamingo. There were only seven of them, and the people of the town were all hiding in the surrounding buildings.

There were hushed whispering once the townspeople noticed him. They all recognized him from the coliseum. The hushed sounds finally caught the attention of the pirates who were busy over turning stalls, sending fishes, fruits, vegetables, and other sell-able wares all over the ground.

"What's this?" a large bulky man glared down at Luffy. "Don't you know we're pirates? Get lost, old man. We have no business with you. We want Doflamingo's head."

"Captain," another man jeered, "they're saying this old man is the champion here. Even 'beating' a few of the Families."

"Is that so?" the first man, the captained smirked. "This shrimpy old man? Really? He's already in tears in our presence. The Donxiqote Family is nothing but a bunch of wusses to be beaten by this scrawny shrimp." They all laughed.

"Please leave," Luffy said quietly, clutching the hem of his shirt.

"What was that, runt?" the captain hissed.

"Please leave," Luffy said louder, looking at the man in the eyes to show he was serious, though the tears still streaming down his eyes didn't help with the look. "Mingo doesn't want you here. So leave."

They all laughed at him. "Did you hear that men?" the captain laughed. " _Mingo_ doesn't want us here. What are you going to do about it, huh?"

Luffy took a glance around at the hidden towns people. There weren't that many people since it was still early in the morning, but they were still innocent bystanders.

"I'm talking to you!" the captain yelled at the boy when the man noticed he wasn't being taken seriously and punched the boy in front of him.

Luffy fell to the ground. He'd gotten distracted by one of the stuffed toy elephant, trying to protect a little boy, and the surprise punch caught him off guard that he lost his grip over his haki, causing it to break free of his control. There were several thuds around him, and he looked around to see all of the civilians falling to the ground, along with the pirates. He scrambled to gain control over his haki.

Violet walked over to the shaking boy hunched over himself, stunned at what had happened. "Luffy, what did you do?"

"Haki," he mumbled with his face pressed into his knees and arms around his legs. "Lost control."

She knelt down and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What happened to cause you to lose control?"

"It's hard to control here. To many voices. The toys, they're crying. I don't know what to do. I can't help them," he lifted his head to show his tired eyes, tears no long coming. "It's quiet now, but I can still hear the others."

"You can hear the toys crying?" she asked slowly as to understand what he said.

"Not crying, screaming. They're not toys. They want to be remembered," he said tiredly. "It hurts them to know how happy their people are, not knowing, remembering the person that's right there next to them. I can hear your sufferings too." He said the last part so softly that she almost missed it.

She gave him a sad smile. "What you hear is the person's heart." She got up and patted her dress free of dirt. "Now, why don't I tie these guys up, while you get yourself together. Then we'll go back to your room." He nodded and let her do as she said.

The silence between them during the walk back was strained. Luffy, tired from having to keep his haki in check, and Violet, thinking to herself about the boy's revelation. How much of Luffy's confession should she tell Doflamingo? She knows that her Young Master enjoys knowing how much the boy grow as a fighter, so any form of strength is welcomed. But would it put the boy in more danger? There has to be a reason why Luffy hasn't said anything about being able to hear those voices and why he's been keeping his haki hidden.

She shook her head. There was no way for her to keep his Conqueror's Haki hidden, with how he took down the pirates and the other people around them. The boy's haki is strong for it to be leaking out just after taking a step outside, now that she's realized what that oppressing aura was that she felt earlier.

When he returned to the dungeon, no one said anything to the boy. They could tell from his expression that he didn't want to anything to do with anyone. They were relieved when he returned back to his normal smiling self the next morning.

-*/-*/-*/

"Young Master is very pleased with your work yesterday," Violet announced the next day. "He's allowing you to go out as you please, on the condition you wear this." She showed him an anklet, one very similar to what he wore before.

"Don't wanna go out," Luffy pouted to her as she placed the tiny bomb on his left leg.

"How about I show you a place that's far from people?" she offered. "It's a beautiful place full of sunflowers."

He hesitated before agreeing, wanting to get some fresh air and maybe see more of the island. "Can we avoid people?"

"I'll show you a route you can use. There are people and toys but not many," she assured him.

He sighed in relief once they reached the top of Flower Hill. From here they were far enough away from civilization that the voices were just below a murmur in the background of his mind.

"It's pretty here," he said before falling back first into the ground in the middle of the sunflower field. "I like it here. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it. You can come here anytime you want to get away from the voices if it ever becomes too much," she knelt down to take a seat next to him. The tall foliage covering them from anyone viewing from above.

They continue on like that in peaceful silence until Luffy shot a hand out and grab something that jumped over him. He stared at what he caught, thinking it to be a bug of a sort, only to widen his eyes in surprise. "It's a tiny person?"

"Tontatta," Violet covered her mouth in surprise.

"Ton-what?"

"Viola!" the Tontatta exclaimed before biting Luffy's hand to free itself and jumped onto Violet's chest in a hug.

"Leo? What are you doing so far from Green Bit?" Violet asked.

Luffy sat up to watch the tiny thing in interest.

"Looking for Princess Mansherry," Leo said desperately. "Have you seen her?"

"I'm sorry," she said sadly, "I haven't heard anything about her. I've been assigned to take care of this boy." She gestured to Luffy, who was sitting cross-legged with his hands over his ankles, flapping his knees.

"Hey, is this Manshy princess a small person like you?" Luffy asked.

"Princess Mansherry," Leo corrected before nodding.

"Hmm. Kinda hard since I've never met her, but I sense some tiny people in town. They're worried. I'm guessing they're like you, looking for her too."

"You can sense that far away?" Violet's eyes widen in surprise. Really, the more she learns what he can do, the more he surprises her.

"Yeah," he nodded. "The whole island. I can tell who is who if I've met the person before, but I'm far enough away that I can't hear them as loud." He gave her a sheepish smile. "That reminds me. I'm hungry."

Violet looked up the sky for a moment. "It is past lunch time. Why don't we go back? I'll get you something to eat. I'll keep an eye for Princess Mansherry in the meantime, all right, Leo?"

-*/-*/-*/

Since he was given permission to go out as he pleased, Violet stopped locking his cell door. He gave a slight push on the door and shivered at the effect of the seastone. The door opened easily at the slight touch. He walked out and kicked the door close, intent on exploring the castle above.

It's been a week since his first visit to Flower Hill. He debated on whether he want to go back today, but decided on exploring the building instead. Maybe he can find this Man-person. He skipped along the halls, peering through each room, not finding anything that caught his interest.

"What are you doing?"

Luffy turned in mid skip to see Buffalo talking to him. "Exploring. Today's my free day," he explained. He turned back around to continue on, before he stopped and turned back around. "By the way, where's the toilet? I gotta pee."

"Go straight down that way, turn right at the second hall, it's the fourth door on the left." Buffalo was taken aback by the boy's carefree attitude.

"Okay. Thanks." Luffy followed the direction he thought he remembered, only to find himself lost. He randomly opened doors in hopes of relieving himself.

During his search, he found Doflamingo in what looked like the library, reading a book. The man looked up and was surprised to see who disturbed him.

"Hi, Mingo. Where's the toilet? Gotta pee. Buffalo gave me wrong directions. And I gotta go now!" he whined as he started to dance in place. He frowned at the laugh he got in answer. "I'm not joking. I have to pee. You know what? Forget it. I'll go right here." Luffy made to take off his pants.

"Wait, please don't," Doflamingo frowned in distaste. "Why don't I take you there?"

"Really? Yay!" The boy ran in a circle with his arms in the air as he cheered. "Hurry!"

When Luffy finally emerged from the bathroom, he found Doflamingo leaning against the wall, waiting for him. "Thanks. I feel better. I'm gonna continue exploring now. I'm on a new adventure!"

Doflamingo placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, stopping him in his track. "Come join me in the library. I hear you enjoy reading."

He thought about it for a moment before happily agreeing and followed the man back to the library. As Luffy read, the Shichibukai studied the boy before him, amused and slightly confused as to why the boy would readily agree to spend time with him. Does the boy not understand that he's technically a prisoner there?

"You seem awfully comfortable," Doflamingo found himself saying, startling the boy who was reading and kicking his legs back and forth. "I hear you've made friends with the prisoners. Are you not afraid? Don't you want to run from here?" he asked, voice taunting.

Luffy tilted his head in thought before shaking his head. "I was told, 'If the world gives you a bird, you turn it into dinner,' or something like that. Besides, I can't run. You won't let me." He pointed to the bomb anklet.

Really, the overly large smile sent his way made Doflamingo frown in confusion. "You are a strange one."

"I hear that lots. I wonder why?"

"You have a screw lose," the man before him deadpanned. Luffy only shrugged and continued reading.

"Leaving already?" Doflamingo asked a few hours later when the boy hopped of his chair.

"Dinnertime," was all Luffy cheered before leaving with his book. Only to come back a few seconds later, looking sheepish. "I don't know how to get back."

The man sighed as he closed his book and got up. "I'll take you back."

Once they arrived to Luffy's cell, they both stared at the door, ignoring the glares and yells from the prisoners to their tormentor. "I guess I should have left it open," Luffy tilted his head as he tried to think of a way to open the door.

The only thing Doflamingo did was to face palm. How could he forget that he placed seastone bars in the prison? "How does Violet open the door?"

"I don't know. Normally?"

There was a light laugh from behind them. "There's a small space on the bar where it's not coated in seastone. I'll tie a towel there for you to use next time," She moved to open it to show them and handed Luffy his dinner as he entered with a thanks to the both of them.

"You're awfully friendly with Dofalmingo," one of the prisoner said suspiciously.

"He said I can come and go as I want, so I am. And I was told that I'm a great source of headaches, so I'm trying to prove my family right," Luffy laughed along with the others.

-*/-*/-*/

The next week Doflamingo settled himself in his study, speaking to someone on the other end of his Den Den Mushi, when there was knock on his door. Without waiting for him to answer, the door slammed open with a loud, excited yell, "Mingo!"

"Is everything all right, Young Master?" the man on the other end of the call asked at the same time Doflamingo slammed his hands on his desk to yell, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'm sorry, Young Master," Gladius said, fear lacing his voice. "I found the brat raiding the kitchen for snacks, while looking for you."

The angry man turned his glare to the boy, who had his arm full of various fruits, make himself at home on the couch with a happy smile. The man sighed and waved the masked man away.

"Is that all you have to report, Vergo?" he asked once the door closed.

"Yes, sir," the man replied before Doflamingo hung up on the call. He got up from his chair to stalked towards the boy and towered over him.

"Next time, wait for me to answer before barging in. I was on an important call," he growled.

"Sorry," Luffy laughed, not looking a least bit sorry. "This castle is huge. Got lost looking for you. Then I found the kitchen and thought you want snacks." He held out an apple that he'd taken a bite out of to the Warlord.

The man sighed in defeat and slumped himself into the couch across from the boy and picked up a banana. "Why would you be looking for me?"

"Just because," the boy shrugged.

"That's not an answer."

"Hm. Because there's nothing else to do. So I wanted to play with Mingo."

"Go play with someone else. I'm sure one of the officers have time to spare for you. I'm busy."

"Aww. Fine." Luffy finished up the rest of his snacks in one gulp, not leaving anything for Doflamingo, before getting up and leaving the room to once again roam around the castle.

An hour later, Doflamingo was once again disturbed by a loud noise outside his study. Stomping towards the door, the slammed it open to peer out and give the person a glare. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded of the stone head that appeared on the wall.

"Hide and seek with Luffy," Pisca squeaked.

"And why are you using your ability inside the castle? You're making too much noise. You're disturbing me!"

"It's faster this way?" the stone user squeaked before a loud boom came from the floor below them.

"What now?!" Doflamingo threw his arms up in frustration, then proceeded to the stairs going down. Turning a corner, he found Baby 5 with her arm in a shape of a large pistol pointing at Luffy, who was rubbing his head in pain.

"Look, Young Master," the woman gushed upon seeing him, "I found Luffy. That means I won."

"Out!" Doflamingo roared. "Stop making a mess inside the castle. You're giving me a headache. Play outside!" He stormed his way back to his study.

Week after week, Luffy spent his free days playing with each of the officers, getting to know them better. Two months later, he found himself wondering the halls and not finding anyone to play with. He opened a random door to find himself in the library again.

Doflamingo looked up from reading some files to see Luffy walking towards a shelf and picked out a book and sitting across from him to read. "You're being awfully quiet today."

"Can't find anybody to play with, and you don't like it when I bother you. So I'm reading," Luffy shrugged

Doflamingo studied the boy for a moment before putting his paper down and setting his files away. "I hear you go to Flower Hill everyday after breakfast."

Luffy looked up from his book and gave the man a smile. "It's quiet there. I like it."

"Why don't you spend more time there? Like right now, instead of being cooped up in the castle."

"Wanted to spend more time with you guys and get to know my new family."

"New family?"

"Uh-huh. That's what you guys are, right?" Luffy tilted his head. He was pretty sure that's what they called themselves.

Doflamingo smirked. "That's right. We're your new family. Say, have you met any of the Tontatta Tribe?"

"Tonton? You mean the tiny people with tails?" The man nodded. "Yeah! They're so cool. I caught one flying over me. He said he was looking for some man princess. I don't really get it. I don't really see many when I go in the mornings though. They must like to sleep in."

The man looked thoughtful for a moment before asking what else he talked to Tontattas about.

"Nothing much. When I do see them, they run away," Luffy pouted. "It's not fair. I wanted to talk to them more. They're so cool!"

"Come in," Doflamingo said when someone knocked on the door, and Trebol entered.

Luffy made a face at the man and scooted away from the gooey man as he walked around his seat to Doflamingo's side.

"Here's the latest test result from Ceasar," the goopy man handed over a file.

"Good. Leave us," the Shichibukai waved the man away with an amused glace to Luffy. "Don't like Trebol?" He asked once the mentioned man left.

"No," Luffy crossed in arm and huffed. "He's slimy and gross." The boy made a face and stuck his tongue at the door.

Doflamingo chuckled as he studied the file that was handed to him. "If you could have anything in the world, what would you want?" the man interrupted the boy's reading once more.

Luffy gave him an excited look, "I want to be the Pirate King!"

"Really?" the man said thoughtfully. "That may be a little hard."

Luffy shrugged. "Why?"

Doflamingo leaned back into the couch. "There's going to be a huge competition in a couple of months. There will be contenders from all over the world, all strong. Pirates, warriors, you name it, they'll be there. The winner of the competition will get anything they wish for. You will be entering to make sure no one outside the family wins."

"You're rigging the competition?"

The man grinned at the lack of accusation on the boy's face, there was just pure curiosity. "That's right."

"Oh, okay." It was as simple as that.

"Try to think of another wish. Something that I can easily grant. This will also be a good chance for you to fight others that are strong and gain their abilities." He looked down to the file on the table before coming to a decision, while Luffy went back to reading. "Also, I'm going to have Ceasar work on you to make you stronger."

"Hm? Okay," came the distracted reply.

"That's it? You're not going to protest?" Doflamingo asked with an amused smile.

"Why? Do you want me to? You're going to do what you want anyway," Luffy gave him a confused look.

"Normally, one doesn't want to be experimented on."

"Well, it is my body. I kinda like it, but I trust you not to kill me. You want me alive anyway," the boy brushed it off and went back to reading, causing Doflamingo to laugh at the boy's trust in him.

-*/-*/-*/

A week after the experiments started, the men in the prison started to notice a change in Luffy. Sure he was still smiling and talking to them like usual, but the smiles were more strained. Then a few days later, a lot of them were supporting deep bruising and wore a lot more bandages than before. He wouldn't answer their questions of what happened, only brushing them off and changing the topic. Luffy had gotten more violent during their matches in the coliseum.

As the days and weeks passed, the boy had gotten more distant with them, no longer talking or sleeping with them, just huddling in the corner of his cell, shivering. Sometimes he would hold his head as if it was in pain. There were days when the boy would go out of control in his own cell and almost attacked Violet but back down just moments before, looking like he was having a hard time controlling himself.

On one of Luffy's free day, Doflamingo carried the boy back to his room, with Violet following behind him, both looking grim. The boy looked so out of it that the prisoners demanded to know what the deranged man did to their sunshine. The man just ignored them and placed Luffy on his bed.

Violet was actually surprised that Doflamingo actually offered to take the boy back to his cell and had been careful with his handling of the boy. She was even more surprised at the concerned look on the man's face after placing the boy on the bed. Sure the boy's reaction to the latest drug Ceasar injected into the boy is a cause for concern, but to see Doflamingo, of all people, to show worry is strange.

An hour after the injection, Luffy had collapsed. He wasn't unconscious, but he couldn't carry himself on his own two legs and started to babble about everything and anything. Nothing he said had made sense, so Doflamingo decided the boy should go back to his cell, since it didn't sound like the boy would be saying anything important. Even after being laid down, the boy didn't stop his babbling.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Doflamingo murmured to himself as Violet closed the door behind them to leave the boy to himself. "I should ask Ceasar about this."

Just as they were about to go up the stairs, there was a loud, inhumane scream followed by a sound of something being broken. The two of them ran back to Luffy's cell to find his bed had been thrown into the bars between him and the other prisoners, now broken in half. The boy was huddled with his back into the corner with his head in his hands, crying.

"Help me," he wailed. "Someone help me. The monsters are coming to get me. Please help. Ace, Sabo, Trao, anybody, please," his trailed off as he sobbed, his shoulders shaking in fear.

"Hallucination," Doflamingo said as he watched the boy with a frown.

"What should we do, Young Master?" Violet asked.

Doflamingo wordlessly opened the door and shrugged off his feathered cape and draped it over the delusional boy and held him close. The boy started to struggle in his arms, trying to get away from the monster he kept screaming about. Unsure of what to do, the man placed a hand on Luffy's head in what he thought would comfort the boy. "Luffy, it's okay. You're safe now," he said quietly.

Luffy stopped struggling to turn his head to Doflamingo's, his eyes wide in fear. "Mingo?"

"That's right. I'm here to save you from the monsters. Why don't you spend the night with me so the monster can't get you? I'll be sure to scare them away."

Luffy sniffled and nodded, fear still in his eyes.

"Violet, get this place cleaned up by tomorrow and replace the bed," he said to the woman before heading out of the dungeon.

"Ri-right," she stuttered, surprised at the gentleness he was showing.

-*/-*/-*/

The next morning Doflamingo found himself panicking when he didn't see Luffy where he should be. Why he was panicking, he wasn't even sure. Why should he care where the boy went? Hell, why did he even let the brat sleep with him? The brat should have taken care of his own meltdown for all he cared.

The brat was just one of his tools. His tool that he needs in one piece and not broken. He groaned into his hand, got up, dressed, and started his search for the boy, which didn't take very long. As soon as he opened his bedroom door, he found Luffy sitting with his back against the wall across from his door with a thoughtful look, complete with his finger and thumb on his chin.

"What are you doing?" the man sighed.

"Trying to remember how I got to your room," was the answer he got.

Doflamingo ran a hand through his hair and sighed once more. "It's fine if you don't remember. Let's just go get breakfast. And then I need a word with Caesar," he growled the last part.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I have over 300 story followers. (๑´ω`๑) Thank you~ (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

 _The best thing you can  
do for yourself is live a  
life that's fulfilling and  
do all the things that  
make you happy._

 _\- unknown_

"I say we let Shanks know," Sabo suggested.

Right after finding out that Luffy wasn't on the ship, they held a meeting with only Whitebeard, commanders, and Law present.

"Why? I'm pretty sure this entire ship can take them out," Law crossed his arms.

"Because. Imagine what would happen if Shanks finds out, and what if he's closer to Dressrosa than us," Ace growled.

"I don't see the problem with that. If it get's Lu-ya saved quicker, then what's the problem?" Law argued back.

"Because we want to be the ones to save Luffy!" Both Ace and Sabo whined at him.

"Actually," Marco interjected, "it'd be a huge problem if Akagami saves Luffy. Luffy is already known to the government to be one of us and part of ASL. A wanted kid with connections to two Emperors would cause a stir. Add in a marine hero, and the Revolutionary's Leader, we would have the World Government up in arms-yoi. The Five Elders would want his head, and Sengoku wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. That means we have to let Garp and Dragon know too, just in case. At least tell them to keep their hands out of Dressrosa."

"Now the problem would be, how do we contact Dragon?" Haruta said.

"Luffy left his hat," Ace held up the straw hat for everyone to see.

"What does that hat have to do with contacting Dragon?" Thatch asked.

"Lu likes to keep his treasures in one place, so he doesn't forget where he puts them," Sabo answered as he put his fingers behind the red ribbon and pulled out a hair clip. "He has a full sheet of vivre card that his dad sent him." And he pulled out another hair clip. And another. And another. He glared at Law, who smirked back in return. Giving up when all he kept picking up were more hair clips, Sabo turned the hat upside down and started shaking it violently, all the while keeping his glare on Law.

Thatch gave a low whistle. "How does he keep all that in there?" he asked, looking at the small collection of hair pieces and other small shiny pebbles that must have came from stolen treasures.

Ace shrugged and picked up the large white sheet that already has a piece torn off. "It's Luffy. Who knows. He says it's a mystery. Here," he waved the paper around for everyone to see.

"Ace, Sabo," Whitebeard said, gaining everyone's attention, "I want you and your division to find Dragon and let him know the situation. We'll have you use a nondescript ship as to not alert the marine. Law will stay to help us update Garp and Shanks."

"It'd be faster if we take Striker 1 and 2," Sabo said.

"But it's also eye catching-yoi. We don't want to alert the Marines, or anyone else for that matter, about our connection to the Revolutionary Army. At least this way, you'd have some bonding time with your division and have someone fish you out if you happen on a storm-yoi," Marco explained. "You tell your division whatever you want regarding Dragon, but don't forget that Luffy handpicked quiet a few of your members-yoi."

"We'll tell them the truth, but we'll also tell them not to tell anyone else," Sabo said.

"Yeah," Ace ran a hand through his hair, looking down. "Luffy trusts them, so will we."

-*/-*/-*/

During the first day of sailing, Ace and Sabo explained to their men why they were going to see the leader of the Revolutionary Army. They were all surprised, of course, but not one of them backed down from anything to save their Luffy. Most of them were there when the three of them were saved and knew the boys. They didn't care, because they knew that Luffy rarely had any contact with his dad. To them, it doesn't matter who the kid's parents were, he's part of their family.

The rest of them were ones that Luffy saved from living on the streets and getting killed, giving them a new home on Moby Dick. They owed Luffy their life and were more than happy to save their little ball of sunshine.

It took them a little over a month to get to the island the vivre card pointed them to. That is, unless it's pointing to an island that's directly in line with this one. If it was, then Sabo's going to have to keep Ace from blowing this island up. They were wasting time, and it's already been over a month! They had to go back to the first half of Grand Lineg, sailing in a choppy line as they followed the vivre card's random change of direction. It wasn't like they could go in a straight line in Grand Line anyway. There is no straight line, just like north isn't always north. But then again, it could be Dragon moving about and not staying in one place.

The island before them was a barren dry land with no green in sight. The only things that could be seen were the various large stones and a stone-like building right in the center. Ace and Sabo used their Observation Haki as soon as they got their ship close enough to dock and disembark.

"Whatever happens, don't kill anyone here," Sabo said seriously to the crew behind him and Ace.

"But what do we do if they attack, Commanders?" someone asked.

"Don't die, of course," Ace answered with a smirk. "And don't kill them," he said seriously.

"Who knows what Dragon would do if we did," Sabo smirked at them evilly that caused most of them behind him to shiver at the thought of what the World's Most Wanted Man would do. "Oh look, here's your first test!" He clapped gleefully as a man walked out from behind a stone they neared.

"What are your reasons for coming? This island has nothing to see. Are you lost?" the man scratched his head. There shouldn't be any log poses that points here.

"Actually, we're here to see Dragon," Sabo gave the man a slight bow and an easy going smile.

"Dragon? There's no dragon here. Leave at once," the man said threateningly. How did they know?

"No, no," Sabo waved his hands in front of him in an effort to drive away the miscommunication. "Not a dragon. We're here to see Dragon. You know, the leader of the Revolutionary Army?"

"There is no Revolutionary Army here," the man growled, not giving away his nervousness. "Leave!"

The young blond hummed as he thought. "I'm pretty sure this is the right place. I mean, this island isn't even on any maps we have. So this island would be a great place for a secret headquarter. I'm going to assume Dragon is in that building over there." He pointed to the only building-like structure in sight.

"Sabo, this isn't working," Ace sighed before looking at the man. "Look, we're in a hurry. Just tell Dragon we're here about his son."

"Dragon doesn't have a son," the man blurted out in confusion before he realized what he'd said.

"See? You do know Dragon," Sabo said excitedly.

Just then an army of men came around the large rock formation with weapons pointed at the pirates.

"So what do you think, Sabo?" Ace asked as he leaned against his brother's shoulder, uncaring of the threat before them.

Sabo only hummed. Before he could answer, someone spoke up, "Leave them to us, Commanders. If you fight, who knows how many you'd fry on accident."

"Ah, right. Poker it is," Sabo shrugged before bringing out a deck of cards and sat down to deal their game.

Ace sat in front of him in a huff. "Just take away our funv why don't you. Just let us know if you need help."

It was easy to tell that the Pirates had the Revolutionary Arm out numbered, so Ace and Sabo weren't too worried. That was until reinforcement arrived with reinforcement. Even then, the two continued their card game.

Some time during the fight, one of the Revolutionary got close to the commanders and managed to swing their sword down on Ace's head. The man was caught by surprise when his sword went through flames rather than a human body.

"Damn it!" Ace said as he threw down his burning cards and stood up to glare at his attacker. "I had a good hand going!" He kicked his attacker and took the man's sword. "This is taking too long." He used everything he learned from Vista to knock out as many of the Revolutionarys as he could with the back of his stolen sword.

They both learned to fight with swords and pistols and just about anything else the other commanders could teach them, without letting Luffy know the real reason. They strove to catch up with their baby brother in terms of strength, so they could protect him from anything. As older brothers, they didn't want Luffy to worry about them or protect them. It was their job to protect him.

Sabo just sighed at his brother's impatience and shrugged and pulled out his metal pipe from the back of his jacket. Instead of joining his brother in the foray, he stood there, observing the battle around them. It seemed that the Revolutionary had set up a small team to retrieve the injured and unconscious to pull them aside and away from the fight to let them rest up before they came back in. Well, no wonder their side was getting overwhelmed.

Sabo walked up to Ace, hitting a few Revolutionaries here and there as they were in his way. "Hey, Ace," Sabo tapped his brother's shoulder has the dark haired teen punched someone out. "You know, you could easily put them all to sleep."

Ace stood frozen as he realized, yes, he could have done that and everything would have gone quicker. "Why didn't I think of that?" He didn't wait for a response before he released his Conqueror's Haki, taking down all the Revolutionary Armies around them.

He turned around to look at his division members to make sure they were all right, when he noticed most of them were looking at him with wide eyes. "I didn't kill them!" he defended himself.

"No, Ace. Look behind you," Sabo pointed towards where the headquarter should be.

Ace looked behind him to see more Revolutionaries coming in their direction not far away. These look much stronger, especially with the light yellow fishman leading them with a young thin female right next to him.

Ace panicked and raised a wall of fire, separating their groups. "Now what?" Ace scratched the side of his head as he turned to face Sabo.

"I'd say, try talking to them, but that wall isn't helping any," Sabo gave his brother a mocking grin.

"Karakusagawa Siken," was all the warning they needed.

"Duck!" Sabo yelled out as he pushed Ace down.

In a matter of moments, the attack from the fishman doused the flaming wall and took down more than half of their men who weren't fast enough to react.

Ace looked over their men and looked back at Sabo, who was laying on top of him. "Okay. Now what?"

"Is that all you can say?" Sabo huffed before pushing himself up. Rather than answering, he pulled out a box from the inside of his jacket pocket. He put both hands up with the box in one hand. "We surrender," he called out, making sure the other side could hear him. "We're only here to see Dragon. Look, we even have payment for him," he waved the box giving them a hopeful smile.

"Or you could be tricking us and that box could contain a bomb," the blond girl said with their group a safe distance away in case the pirates decides to attack.

"How rude," Sabo huffed as he brought both arms down to his side. "If I were to have a bomb, I'd hide it somewhere for you to step on."

"Could we hurry this up?" Ace moaned from the ground, where he laid on his back with his arms out to the sides. "Everyone else got their jobs done. We're the only ones left." He then got up and glared at the Revolutionaries, lighting up his fist in the process. "We could just blow this place up. It'd be faster."

"Oh~" Sabo said, sounding impressed, clapping his hands, "that's great idea."

"It is?" the remaining Whitebeards said behind them.

"Yeah. If we're loud enough and flashy enough, the big man might come out and see what's going on," Sabo grinned at his men.

"Oh," they, Ace included, said.

"You guys take care of the others," Sabo waved at the men on the ground.

"Yes, sir!" With that they rushed to get all the downed pirates and revolutionaries to one place, as Ace and Sabo rushed towards the waiting Revolutionaries in front of them.

"As if we'd let you!" the girl shouted before going to attack them, along with the fishman and the rest of the Revolutionaries.

The two commanders weaved in and out, avoiding all their attacks, punching the ground with Hikens, causing the ground around them to explode. Dust covered their vision, but Ace and Sabo were still able to avoid being attacked by using their Observation Haki. Eventually, the fishman caught Ace by surprise. Hearing Ace's startled voice distracted Sabo long enough for the girl to take him down.

"We suggest the rest of you surrender," the fishman said, walking out of the cloud of dust with an unconscious Ace. The girl followed right behind with Sabo in the same state as his brother.

The pirates who were tending to the injured looked at them in surprise before shrugging to each other and raised their hands in surrender. Sabo did originally say they'd surrender to them anyway, before Ace decided it'd take too long to talk them into letting them see Dragon.

-*/-*/-*/

Sabo woke up to the sounds of voices around him. He moaned, grabbing the head of the person laying next to him close to his chest. He sighed in relief when the room went quiet.

"Boys, get up-yoi."

"Five more minutes, Pops," both Sabo and Ace mumbled with Ace's voice muffled by Sabo's chest. Ace then wrapped his arms around Sabo, keeping them both warm and comfortable.

There was a sigh and a girl's voice muttered, "I can't believe you made these spoiled brats your commanders."

Sabo tuned out whatever else was said, intent on getting a few more minutes of sleep. But there was something nagging in the back of his mind, something he's forgetting, something that's missing. The bed feels weird also. It was too still. There wasn't the slight sway from the waves hitting the side of the ship.

"We got a message from Luffy-yoi."

"LUFFY!" Sabo shouted as he sat up with Ace following him, both wide eyed and alert.

That got the attention of everyone in the room. Both he and Ace looked around and they noticed that they weren't on Moby Dick and that Marco was on the Den Den Mushi that was placed on their bed.

"Uh, where are we?" Ace asked, scratching the back of his head.

"My office, which is also my bedroom," a deep, gruff voice answered.

"Who are you?" they both asked at the same time.

"Dragon."

There was a moment of silence as the boys processed this information. "No way," they both said seriously. "There's no way. Luffy's too cute to be your son."

"It's true," someone from their division said. "After you two were caught, we were supposed to be taken to their prison, but then this guy," he jerked his thumb towards the tall, gruff looking revolutionary leader, "brought us to his office instead after learning we're with Whitebeard. We went ahead and explained everything to him, since both of our commanders were out of commission."

"And to think, no one even knew our boss even had a kid," the girl glared at Dragon with her arms crossed.

"We're getting off topic-yoi," the den den mushi said.

"Right!" Sabo jumped up to leap at the snail. "You said Luffy sent a message?"

"Is he okay?"

"How is he?"

"Did you tell him we're coming?" Both Sabo and Ace asked.

"First, hands off the snail, Sabo. I don't need you to be hanging up on me after I answer your questions-yoi."

Sabo clicked his tongue in annoyance before setting the phone back down on the bed in front of Ace.

"Phone's down, Pops," Ace said. He laid on his stomach with his arms propped up to hold up his head with a huge smile on his face, happy to hear that his little brother was able to call home. "So?"

"It wasn't Luffy who called. They called themselves Tontatta Tribe. From what we gathered, they're a tribe of dwarves, little people-yoi. Anyway, they came across Luffy on accident, and Luffy asked them to pass on a message to us. He doesn't want us to come yet. He said to wait-yoi," Marco said.

"Luffy - Luffy doesn't want us to come?" Sabo said, looking torn.

"Yet-yoi. He wants us to come, just not yet. I think he's planning something," there were some snickering from the other side of the den den mushi.

"I don't think Little Luffy knows how to plan," they heard Kingdew's bland voice over the snickering. "He tends to ruin them."

"Lu-ya can plan if he wants," Law defended. "Sometimes. Maybe. Nevermind, I've never seen him plan anything. Even his meals are random."

"So, what? We have to sit still and wait until he says it's okay to go, Pops?" Ace practically yelled.

"Ace," Whitebeard's voice came over, "I'm sure Luffy has a good reason for all this. If we go now, before he's ready for us, things may go wrong for him."

That calmed Ace down. He wouldn't ever want to put Luffy in more danger than he already is. "Oh, right."

"Besides," Whitebeard continued, "it sounds like your brother is well. Leo, the one that passed on the message, said he's being well taken care of, and they'll call us with updates as often as they can."

"I was told you have payment for my cooperation," Dragon cut in, looking at the boys. "I take all my men out of Dressrosa and stay clear of the place, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Sabo pulled out the box out of his jacket pocket.

"I'm hanging up-yoi. Just a fair warning, Dragon, their version of payment is torture to some-yoi." And Marco hung up.

Dragon raised an eyebrow at the two on the bed who looked at him with bright smiles of happiness.

"Don't listen to Pops. We brought our treasure box for you. Look!" Ace said excitedly, and Sabo took of the lid to show them a box completely filled with newspaper clippings and pictures. "These are copies though. The originals are back at home. So you can keep these."

Everyone, including the Whitebeard Pirates crowded the bed to look in the box. Eventually, the Pirates backed away nervously. "Yeah, so, would someone point us to where we could get dinner?"

That had the Revolutionaries raising their eyebrows at their reaction.

"Why don't the rest of you go on ahead and show them the cafeteria and someone bring us back something to eat," Dragon said.

"I'll stay too," the girl said. "I'm Koala, an instructor here by the way."

"I'm Hack, also an instructor," the fishman said. "I'm also curious."

"All right. Bring enough food for the five of us," Dragon said before shooing everyone out of his cramped office.

"I suggest bringing enough food for thirty people," a pirate laughed as they all left.

Dragon, Koala, and Hack already had a few pictures in their hands, studying them and didn't hear what was said. The three of them looked confused at what they were seeing.

"These are mostly pictures of a girl, all of the same girl. I thought they'd be pictures of Luffy," Koala said in confusion.

"Those _are_ Luffy. Isn't he cute!" Then they both started digging through the box, and Sabo finally picked one out and handed it to Dragon. "This one was taken about four months ago." This time it was a picture of a young boy in an overly large shorts and t-shirt with dirt, leaves, and twigs sticking all over him, hugging a tiger's head happily smiling. The poor tiger had a panicked look, wanting to be anywhere but there being held by the strange kid.

"Lu wanted to be friends with the tiger and wouldn't take no for an answer. Took him almost an hour to catch him," Sabo said proudly.

"Pops wouldn't let him keep Stripey Tiger Roar," Ace laughed, "even after Lu begged and begged. Grandpops eventually had to tell Lu why he couldn't bring Stripey Tiger Roar with us."

"Stripey Tiger Roar?" Hack asked slowly.

"Luffy has bad naming sense," they both said as they continued picked through the box for another picture.

-*/-*/-*/

When three revolutionaries returned back to the cafeteria from delivering dinner to their boss's room, they went to get their own food and sat down telling the others what happened.

"I swear it. I've never seen Dragon look that uncomfortable before. More like he's always expressionless."

"Even Koala and Hack looked like they wanted to leave but couldn't."

"There's no way I'd want to be stuck there, so we just left the food without saying anything."

"A part of me want to know what happened, while the other part is too scared. I mean, even _Dragon_ looked scared."

The pirates who overheard this and laughed. "That's because our two commanders are _very_ dotting to their youngest and craziest brother. You say they're spoiled, but you haven't met Luffy yet."

"Those two, plus their other brother that isn't here, spoils the brat with anything and everything he wants."

"I don't know. Marco seems to think everyone at home spoils him."

"So, this torture that Phoenix was talking about?" a revolutionary asked.

"That would be when our dear Commanders talk about their adventures with Luffy. The things the kid gets up to makes you wonder about your sanity. They can go on nonstop, unless one falls asleep, or it's time to eat," the pirates laughed.

"There was this one time Jiru, that's Speed Jiru, our information specialist, was trying to get one of our prisoner to cough up some information. Well, he had this bright idea to use the kids. Ace and Sabo were only 13 at the time, and Luffy was 10. Jiru told Ace and Sabo that someone had wanted to hear about their adventures. Granted, those two would never go around talking about their precious brother to just any stranger, so Jiru introduced the guy as his good friend. Brought the prisoner to his room and everything. Long story short, the man went through what your boss is going through right now. The poor guy broke down after an hour with the kids. They were so mad to find out that their Luffy stories were used as torture to get information. Marco thought it was creative and less messier than their usual torture and wanted to continue it, but they refused, saying that Luffy is too precious to share any random person."

"The sad thing is, most of us have seen the things those kids have gotten themselves into. Let'see. We never let them play hide-and-seek when we don't plan on being somewhere for long. The game can go on for days. They only break for food and sleep. Meal time with them is like a war zone. Stay away from them."

"Those are just the tame stories. Just wait til you hear the one with the tiger, sea king, and alligator."

-*/-*/-*/

The next morning Ace and Sabo woke up to Dragon's version of Fist of Love. "Wake up."

They both sat up in their shared bed rubbing their heads. "Why? It's not like we have a reason to be up yet."

"Phoenix gave me permission to keep you boys here until my son needs you," Dragon replied. "As thanks for updating me on my son, I'm going to train you personally. So get up and get ready."

"What?"

"You heard me. Meet me on the training ground in 15 minutes," Dragon said, then left.

"Well, at least we know for sure he's related to Shitty Gramps," Ace moaned, still rubbing his head.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** And here we have what Ace and Sabo's been up to.

I'm going to be working on missing scene requests as omakes to add on at the end of the story. If you have any requests, please let me know. The first one I'll be working on is from **00-SilentObserver-13** : what happened to Vista and the others when Marco got through with them for the reading incident (Luffy reading Vista's porn book to Whitebeard).

Just 3-5 more chapters left!


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

 _Don't give up. All of your  
hard work will pay off soon,  
stick with what you're doing  
no matter how hard it gets._

 _\- unknown_

"This disguise is stupid," Ace grumbled from his seat on the deck floor on one of the Revolutionary's ship that was pretending to be a merchant ship. They were currently docked in an underground cove with some of the other shady ships. "Why white beards? We look like old geezers!"

"Hush. Who cares about the stupid beard?" Sabo chided him. "I'm more worried about Luffy. The Tontattas hasn't seen him in a month, and the last time they did, he wasn't looking so good."

"Stupid selfish brother, just had to give us more work," Ace crossed his arms. "It'd be so much easier just to save him and get out. But noooo. He tells us we have to help save some toys, a princess, steal some files from a lab, and destroy some factory."

"At least he was able to get us some useful information," Law said.

"You guys ready to go save the boss's son?" a girl, Koala, from the revolutionary army asked them cheerily.

"Luffy. We're saving Luffy, not your boss's son," Ace growled.

"Same thing," she waved it off. "So Hack and Law will be joining the tournament to see if they can find Luffy, Ace is going to incapacitate this Sugar person, Sabo is going to infiltrate the laboratory and capture Caesar, and I'm going to destroy a factory. The rest of your division, who will be mingling with the people, will cause some sort of commotion. Hopefully, that will be enough to make them want to run and into the safety of the Marine ships. After all that, some of your commanders will come and help us with the rest of your crew members, while we storm the castle."

"Right," Sabo nodded. "We'll leave the princess to the Tontattas. First we need to meet up with them to see if they have any updates. No need to worry about our men. Division 2 has all the best people and equipment to cause mass mayhem, if needed."

"Go guys go on ahead," the green fishman, Hack, said. "I'll go on ahead and sign us up for the tournament. Call me if there's any new information."

"Six months," Ace grumbled. "Six fucking months! I can't believe it's taking us this long to save Lu!"

"Calm down, Ace," Sabo said. "There was a lot of preparing to do, and what with getting all these groups to work together, of course it was going to take time. Not to mention, this tournament is a great cover for us."

"He's right," Law said. "It also gave Lu-ya time to send us useful information. I'm quite surprised he was able to think so far ahead. Or to be able to think at all."

"That's because he doesn't think," Sabo said proudly. "He just does what he wants. It's all instinct."

"I can't tell if you're proud of him or insulting him," Koala said. "This brother of yours sounds crazy from all the stories you've told us. He even trusted you guys to come save him after he left without saying anything to anyone."

"That's because he is," Ace grinned before frowning. "And why wouldn't we? He's our brother. We're not going to let some stupid flamingo take him."

"Whitebeard, Akagami, the Revolutionary, and the Marines. Yeah, Doflamingo isn't going to regret it," Sabo grinned evilly.

"This brother of yours is amazing, to be able to move that many fractions just to save him," Koala said. "As soon as Dragon heard, he just immediately said he's helping, even though you guys didn't ask for help. Guess his son means more to him that he lets on. None of us even knew he had a son until then."

"Better that way," Sabo nodded. "If too many people knew about Luffy's bloodline, a lot of people would be going after his head. I still can't believe Dragon had the guts to tell Grandpops that he's keeping us for four months."

"Yeah," Ace grumbled. "At least we were able to learn a few things, though he could have gone about a different way. It was almost like training with Gramps all over again."

They reached the base of Flower Hill, where they had agreed to meet a representative of the Tontatta Tribe.

"You people must be Lucy's comrades," a small toy soldier greeted them.

"It's a toy," Ace deadpanned. "Not just any toy, it's a tiny one-legged toy soldier."

"How rude," the toy said. "Too think Lucy held high regards for his comrades."

"Sorry about that," Sabo crouched as best he could to be eye level with the toy soldier. "My brother is a little high strung right now. We were told to meet someone here to see the Tontatta Tribe?"

"Yes, that would be me. Come," the toy hopped on one leg and turned to show them the way to the hidden tunnel to Green Bit. "We don't have time to lose. Lucy seemed to be unwell the last we saw him."

"Can you tell us how he looked?" Law asked.

"A month ago, the last time we saw him, he gave us a drawing with what we think is the layout of the castle. It was a crude drawing, so we're assuming it's the layout of the castle."

Ace whistled. "Didn't think he had it in him to think that far ahead."

"Yes, well," the toy hesitated, "that was when he told us that he can't meet us anymore and to keep away from him when we do cross path again. I'm not sure what that all means, but right after he told us to leave right away. So we had no choice but leave Flower Hill, where we've been meeting. Before leaving, we hid ourselves in our tunnel and looked to make sure the boy was alright, but he passed out where we left him. And then Doflamingo showed up."

"Lu probably knew Joker was coming and told you to leave, to keep your meetings a secret," Law mused.

"They're probably experimenting with him again," Sabo said worriedly. "Maybe that's why he wants us to steal some files in the lab. He doesn't know what drugs they are or what they're doing to him."

"Again?" Koala looked taken a back.

"You heard right. Again," Ace growled. "There's a reason why that bastard only wanted Lu back, rather than taking us with him."

"Doflamingo was acting strange that day," the soldier interrupted them. "He actually looked worried about the boy. Viola said that wasn't the first time he did something out of character. After an incident where Luffy was hallucinating about monsters coming after him, Doflamingo actually comforted him and let him sleep in his room."

"Viola, you mean Violet? The person that Mingo's forcing to work for him, right?" Sabo confirmed.

"That's right," the solder said. "She's the second daughter of the former king of Dressrosa. Doflamingo wants her for her Devil Fruit ability. She has the ability of clairvoyance. He's using her to over-look the kingdom for any disturbance. She agreed to work for him in order to keep her father alive."

"So the former king is still living then," Law concluded.

"That's right. We're here," the toy soldier opened the door at the end of the underground tunnel.

The four humans widen their eyes at the sight of the little people, having never seen one before. After their introduction, they went down to business and started their planning.

-*/-*/-*/

Law had safely made into the coliseum to meet up with Hack, without Luffy's bad drawing of the castle layout. He made sure to memorize it before handing it back to the Tontattas so they could make use of it to save their princess. The drawing was bad, but at least it gave them the gist of where things were, especially the underground passages.

Law and Hack walked around the coliseum, observing the other contestants. Hack paused in his walk when he felt a tapping on his shoulder.

"I see him," Law murmured and inconspicuously pointed out a small thin boy with shaggy black hair.

"He seems pretty happy despite being a prisoner here," Hack said as they watched the boy in the helmet bounce from one place to the other, talking to other contestants, though, most were giving him a wide birth, and then get into an argument with someone. "We should go help him out."

"No, wait," Law said. "He knows we're here, but he's not coming to us. There has to be a reason. Let him do his thing. If we approach him like we know him, it may cause some problems." He pointed to Luffy's leg where the bomb anklet rests.

Hack only nodded with disgust clear on his face. "How are you sure he knows we're here? Would he be able to recognize you through the disguise?"

"Trust me," Law grinned to himself. "He knew we were here before we even set foot on this island."

After looking around for a good half hour, Luffy bounced right in front of them. "Hiya!" He greeted them. "I'm Lucy. Nice to meet'cha."

"Hack," the fishman replied slowly, unsure of how respond to the exceedingly happy prisoner.

"I'm Tora," Law said as he looked the boy up and down, checking for any visible injuries. "Are you a contestant also?"

"Yup! I'm in Block C. What about you two?"

"We're both in Block D," Hack answered.

"Are you sure you should be participating? You're just a scrawny brat," Law taunted with a grin, happy to see no visible injuries.

"What?! Take that back! I'm super strong. Just you wait til I kick your ass!" He was about to continue his tirade but was stopped by a man super short shorts and a horned-billed cap.

"Lucy, you shouldn't be talking to them," the man chided.

"Delli! Aww, but why not?" the boy pouted.

"Because you might be fighting them eventually."

"So?"

"So? Ugh! You know what? Forget it. Doffy wants to see you."

"Oh, okay!" the boy skipped away a few steps before turning around. "Where?"

"On the top floor of the viewing area."

"Right!" He took a couple of steps before walking back again. "How do I get there?"

"If you would just slow down and wait for me, I was going to take you there," the man grumbled as he led the way. "Seriously, why does Doffy even keep you? You're just a pain in the ass." He continued grumbling, while Luffy laughed merrily as they walked away.

"That boy…" Hack wasn't sure if it would be rude to continue that train of thought.

"Has a few screws loose? Yes, I know," Law sighed.

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't talk to that person that way," a man with green hair styled standing up came up to them. "Don't you know who he is?"

"Who? The kid?" Hack said confused.

"The kid? The kid?! You don't call that person an old man! He's the Great Lucy-senpai. The one and only champion of the coliseum!" The man looked about ready to faint from over excitement. He quickly recovered and continued on normally. "You guys must have just came." They nodded. "You should have came a few days earlier. Lucy-senpai was still fighting the gladiators up until yesterday as a demonstration of what to expect from their champion.

"Two days ago, he even fought the previous champion and won. There's a rumor going around that Diamante, oh, that's the previous champion, was jealous that Lucy-senpai is the champion or something like that. So the king let them duke it out. You should have seen it! It was awesome, nothing like the demonstration. It was like he wasn't even trying in the other matches. Diamante came out a bloodied mess and dead. The best part was Lucy-senpai came out mostly unscathed. He's the best!"

"You wouldn't happen to know if there's a recording of that match somewhere, do you?" Law asked.

"That's a good question. If there is, I want it," the man gushed before walking away to sing his praises of Lucy to someone else.

"Who was that?" Hack asked.

"Who knows?" Law shrugged before taking a slip of paper out of his pocket.

"What's that?"

"Lucy-ya gave it to me before he left. 'Protect Rebecca.' Who the hell is that?" Law glared at the note.

-*/-*/-*/

"I would like to thank you for lending us a helping hand, even though we didn't ask for your help. I know how you revolutionaries like to keep a low profile. All we needed was to make sure we didn't get any of your men caught in the crossfire," Whitebeard said to a tall cloaked man standing next to him on Moby Dick, both facing Dressrosa. They were docked close enough for them to see the island but far enough that they wouldn't be recognized.

"Nonsense," the man said in a deep grumble, "That is something I should be saying. You've been taking care of my son in my stead. You've done more than I've ever done. Seems the ability to raise children never made it to the Monkey family. Even so, I will not sit by while my son's freedom is taken from him again."

"I've done nothing but to give him a safe place to live. It is those three other brats that have been raising him. If anyone is to be thanked, it should be them."

Dragon nodded and sighed in exasperation. "Law, Ace, and Sabo. So I've heard. Many times. Those two brats wouldn't shut up about him and would talk about him every chance they got. The men they brought with them were no different."

"Yes. The crew loves him as if they were their own children. Ace and Sabo included. Seems those two raised your boy since he was about two, so I heard. Law joined us a few years after and grew attached to the boy he calls his sister."

"And you ended up being their father figure," someone yelled, causing the rest of the crew still on deck to laugh.

"And how did Akagami get mixed into all this?" They both looked to the ship anchored not too far from them, where the red-haired captain stood facing the island with a scowl, ready take down any unexpected ships that comes their way. He was to fight the Marine ships that Sengoku is sending with Vergo and his men, while letting Garp's ships slip by them to house the civilians.

"He's entrusted his treasured hat and his left arm to that boy's future," Whitebeard smiled. "That boy of yours has this charm that makes people flock to him."

"Just like his mother," Dragon smiled.

"Just be happy they didn't spoil him to the point that he can't function normally once he decides to set sail-yoi," Marco smirked from behind the both of them, causing everyone who heard to laugh merrily. They were all excited to finally get their youngest brother back.

"I have no objection with him wanting to be the next Pirate King," Dragon said proudly.

-*/-*/-*/

Ace impatiently snatched the baby den den mushi out of his pocket and answered it. "What," he growled.

"Someone's a grouch," Law replied. "We ran into Luffy, and he passed on a message. Does anyone there know who Rebecca is? All his note says is to protect her."

"Rebecca is the daughter of the first daughter of the former king of Dressrosa," the toy soldier answered. "I don't believe they've ever met."

"Well, he says to protect her, so I'm assuming she's participating in the tournament," Law sighed.

"She is," the toy growled, "even after I told her not to. She wants to win in order to defeat Doflamingo. She doesn't know about our plans."

"How's Luffy? Is he okay?" Sabo asked, taking the den den from Ace's hand.

"He looks good. In fact, he's doing great by the looks of it," Hack sounded amused. "Saw him run around, about ready to bounce off the walls."

"We heard he fought one of the top executive, Diamante," Law informed them.

"Yeah, we just finished watching a recording of it right now. It's why Ace is being a grouch," Sabo laughed.

"You have a recording?" Hack asked in surprise.

"Yeah. The tontattas snuck in to watch," Sabo said.

"That bastard hurt Luffy," Ace growled.

"We heard he came out mostly unscratched," Law mused, "and Diamante is dead."

"Actually, Lu doesn't look right. It was like watching a crazed manic having way too much fun killing this guy. He wasn't even trying," Sabo reported, worried. "He got cut a few times from not evading. He just went in without any regards to himself. About midway through the fight, it looked like Lu was fighting with himself. I'm guessing they did something to mess with his mind just before this and let him run rampant. He was wearing a gold gladiator's helmet, with a white beard and mustache at the beginning, but lost them during the fight."

"He's not trying?!" Koala exclaimed. "That's not trying?! That man is one of the top executive! One of the strongest in Doflamingo's family!"

"Yeah," Ace sighed in defeat. "Lu's much better than this. I'm guessing even Doflamingo doesn't know the extent of Luffy's strength. He must be hiding it from them, and he struggled to keep himself from doing too much midway through. Must have gotten his mind back or something."

"That fight between Luffy and Diamante came about after an argument with Doflamingo. Diamante was upset about the fact Doflamingo doesn't trust him enough to win the tournament for him," the toy explained.

"That's right," a Tontatta named Leo said. "We snuck in the castle to look for Princess Mansherry and saw the whole thing. Doflamingo said they would hold a competition to see who would be entered in the tournament as the champion. After Diamante left, Doflamingo told Luffy to take Diamante out because he doesn't want someone who doesn't listen to him in his family. He said to dispose of the traitor."

"I see," Law said thoughtfully. "Either Doflamingo knows the full extent of Luffy's strength, or he was confident that he would win. Good to know there's one less opponent. Keep a copy of that recording." He said the last part as an afterthought.

"Of course we are," Ace grinned. "It's going with our other Luffy memories."

"Your what?" Koala said looking disturbed.

"Well, Luffy's leaving us one day to set sail on his own. We're keeping a scrapbook of sorts to remember him by," Sabo shrugged.

"You three are creepy," she said with a shudder. "Almost stalker-like."

"Speaking of stalker," Hack said, "there's this strange guy with green hair that seems to be a huge fan of your brother."

"Keep him away from Luffy!" both Ace and Sabo shouted, and Sabo hung up on them.

Then another call came in. This time it was Thatch, who was mingling with the towns people and to buy a few supplies for their kitchen.

"You won't believe it. Seems Little Lucy is a big thing here. Some of the people call him the Hero of the Colosseum. They even have merchandises of him," Thatch laughed.

"We have to buy some," Sabo said excitedly.

"Already did," Thatch said.

"Well, buy some for us," Ace demanded.

Thatch laughed and hung up on them to report back to the ship.

"Stalker," Koala and the toy soldier deadpanned at them.

-*/-*/-*/

The tournament has started and Block A just finished, the winner was some strange guy with a paper bag over his head named Mr. Store. Block B participants were starting to walk out to the stage. Luffy had wanted to stay and watch, but Doflamingo asked him to take care of some disturbance in town instead.

So here he was, walking down the streets with Violet towards the disturbance. He really wished he could control his tears, but it was hard with all the toys around. He would sometimes hear the towns people say he sheds his tears because he was crying for them when they were attacked by pirates or other unruly people. That was only because he never came to town unless Doflamingo tells him to take care of any threats.

After he lost his disguise during the fight with Diamante, the people were wary of him. He couldn't tell if it was because they recognized him from his wanted poster with his brothers or if it was what he did to Diamante. Now they treated him as before, their savior.

"Violet," Luffy whispered low enough for only her to hear when they neared the area, "I know these people. There's going to be this guy name Haruta. After I finish here, go with him. He'll keep you safe. Don't worry about Mingo. I'll just make up something for you."

She nodded and didn't say anything, trusting Luffy and his friends, already knowing of their plans.

They walked another couple of blocks before turning right. The pirates there widened their eyes in surprise at seeing Luffy. One almost called out his name before a woman hiding in her flower store cheered at his arrival, followed by the rest civilians there.

"Lucy! It's Lucy! We're saved!" There were other citizens that followed her cheer. They all went quiet when the boy spoke to the pirates.

"Please leave," he said with no recognition in his eyes, pretending he didn't know them.

"Why should we leave? We're here to enjoy ourselves," a small built man said. Haruta immediately understood that Luffy couldn't risk exposing himself here. The others with him nearly sputtered in confusion.

"Go somewhere else. You're disturbing the people, and you're making me miss the next round," Luffy sent him a teary glare. Instead of waiting for another retort, he released a larger than usual amount of his Conqueror's Haki to ensure that anyone nearby wouldn't mess up their plans.

Once everyone went down, Luffy whispered, "Sorry, Haruta," and walked away, leaving Violet to 'clean up the mess.'

"He better be," Haruta muttered from his place on the ground, where he pretended to sleep with everyone else. "He just gave me more work to do." He looked up and saw Violet. "You must be Viola. I'm Haruta. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Viola smiled. "Thank you for playing along. He really had hoped that Doflamingo wouldn't send him out for errands during the tournament."

"Couldn't be helped then. Let's get these people to safety. There's a Marine ship ready for the civilians. The others will go to another ship that's on its way here. Just leave them at the pier for now." He got to work, lifting a woman over his shoulder as he asked, "How is he? He's crying. Is he really crying for the people here?"

"Luffy? You don't know? I would have thought his friends would have known about it," she said as she picked up a few of the sleeping toys.

"Known about what?" Haruta sent her a confused look.

"He can hear the hearts of people. The toys on this island were once human, turned into toys by Sugar's power."

"That explains it. We know about the whole reading the hear part, just wasn't sure what triggered it here. I see he still has no control over his Haki. It was leaking on his way here."

"No. He says he can't control himself when presented with overwhelming feelings. The toys want to be free and to be remembered again."

Haruta nodded. "I can understand that. That boy's been through a lot."

"I know. I was here when he was first taken," she said sadly. "I just wish I was strong enough to help him."

"What you're doing now is good enough. He doesn't blame you. It's all Doflamingo's fault."

-*/-*/-*/

Hack whistled as he and Law watch Luffy fight his block. "How old did you say he is?"

Normally, the champion had the luxury of only enter the tournament at the end, but Luffy thought it'd be boring just to watch and begged Doflamingo to let him participate like everyone else.

"Just turned fourteen not too long ago. Why?" Law turned to give the fishman a questioning look.

"Never seen a kid that small beat that many armed men nearly twice his size so effortlessly. And that giant! Did you see him? He downed that giant in one punch! That was an Elbalf warrior for goodness sakes."

Law just shrugged. "He's sparred with Oars Jr. once for fun." Law nearly laughed at the face Hack made.

Hack shook himself out of his stupor to watch the match once more. "I still think there's something wrong with him mentally. Or maybe he's still under the influence of whatever from when he fought Diamante. He looks like he's having too much fun."

"That's because he is having fun. To him, this is fun. He's not killing anyone, and he knows we're here. I've never seen him kill someone like he's enjoying it. He only kills if that person is a threat to his family," Law smiled sadly. He then frowned at the noise coming from the green-haired man, the winner of Block B, Bartolomeo, a few windows away from them. The crazed man was drooling and still singing praises of his sister.

Law wasn't sure he liked that the vulgar man was obsessing over his sister.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Almost done. Just 3 more chapters after this and an epilogue. Plus omakes! So far I have 2. Any other requests of missing scenes? I know I rushed through this story and left a bunch of stuff up to your imagination. hahahaha


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

 _Fairy tales are more than true:  
not because they tell us that  
dragons exist, but because they  
tell us that dragons can be beaten._

 _-Neil Gaiman_

The first round finished with the winners being Mr. Store for Block A, Bartolomeo for Block B, Lucy for Block C, and Hack for Block D. Law had knocked Rebecca out and let Hack win so that he would have time to take a look around and wait for Ace and Sabo.

So far the plan is proceeding as planned. The marines have stormed the island to 'save' the citizens from the pirates, leading the people to marine's ships as a safe haven. Whitebeard docked a ways away. All but a couple of commanders have engaged with Doflamingo's family. Shanks is currently engaged with the Marine ships following Vergo. Law hasn't heard back from Ace, Sabo, Koala, or any of the Tontattas yet, so he was a little worried about them.

The fighters were currently on break to let the next round competitors rest a little before continuing.

Law watched as the guards carry out another stretcher with an injured contestant. He walked over to the girl he was told to protect. He was about to say something to her, but was interrupted by a guard asking them to follow him for treatment.

"But we're not injured," Law said.

"It's just a precautionary check-up," the guard insisted as he grabbed Law by the arm.

They were about to be dragged off by the guard when Luffy walked up to them. "Hey," he said to the guard, who saluted the boy, "there's this guy over there that just fell over." He pointed over to the opposite direction. Once the guard left, the boy walked away but not before giving Law a grin.

Law held Rebecca by the arm and asked her to trust him as they followed at a distance.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at him, tugging slightly at her arms. She could already tell she wouldn't be able to win against him with how strong he was holding her.

"Just trust me."

"Don't you know who that person is? He's Doflamingo's right-hand man. He's ruthless. Anyone who sides with Doflamingo is my enemy."

Law had learned through the booings and yells from the audience that the citizens here doesn't think very highly of her or their former king. Through the toy soldier, he's learned how Doflamingo had taken over the kingdom. It was despicable how the Warlord puppeteered the whole thing.

"Just trust me," he repeated, not wanting to say anything too much in case someone over hears.

They turned a corner to see Luffy standing there waiting for them. Law chanced a look to check if anyone was nearby.

Luffy laughed at him. "You worry too much. Of course, I'd made sure no one's around. And you look funny."

"With you around, there's always something to worry about, Lu," Law rubbed his temple with his free hand. "And it's a disguise."

Luffy turned to Rebecca and offered his hand, "Hi, I'm Luffy."

"I know who you are," she glared at him, ignoring his hand. "And isn't it Lucy?"

Luffy looked to his hand in confusion before bringing it up to rub the back of his head. "Oh. Okay." He grinned. "Mr. Soldier is pretty mad at you for entering the tournament, but don't worry. He's not mad anymore. I promised him that you'd be protected." He gave her a laugh.

"Mr. Soldier?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. He's so cool."

"How do you know Mr. Soldier?"

"Mmm. Trao can explain," Luffy tilted his head to the side with a frown on his face. "I have to go. Mingo's looking for me. Trao, whatever you do, don't follow the guards. Go down this hall and get out of the coliseum." He left after giving his instruction.

"I thought your name is Tora," she said before thanking him for his coat to cover her barely-there armor as it would be too eye catching with all the gold.

"My real name's Trafalgar Law. Lu-ya can't seem to pronounce my name correctly, so he calls me Trao. I can't use my real name here. I'm wanted by Joker. Believe me when I say, Luffy-ya hates Joker. And his real name is Luffy-ya. I'm not quite clear as to why he's called Lucy-ya here."

"But I've seen him kill people on Doflamingo's order without batting an eye. And he's just a kid who can easily be manipulated."

"He may look like that, but he's actualy 14. And he's been killing for the bastard since he was three, or so I heard. He and two of my other brothers were freed years ago from that man. Joker caught wind of where he was, and Lu-ya willingly followed him back to save us. He did all this for us. Look, it's a really long story that we don't have time for right now. Mr. Soldier-ya, or whatever, and a few others are working with us to take down Joker. More like, we only came here to save Lu-ya, but that selfish idiot just had to give us more work."

"You're going to save Dressrosa?"

"Yeah. That's what Lu-ya wants, so that's what we're doing. If Joker only knew who he actually kidnapped, I'm sure he would have second thoughts about taking him back," Law grinned evilly.

"It's a trap. I knew we shouldn't trust him," Rebecca said when they reached a hall where metal bars blocked their path.

"It's not a trap. Room. Shambles." They were instantly on the other side of the bars. "Lu-ya would never send us into a trap. Now, let's go."

They went from one hall to another, both hiding their presence and sneaking passed a few random guards. Soon, they see Doflamingo's back and quickly ducked into a nearby closet. They cautiously stuck their heads out to watch as the man with crossed arms tap his foot impatiently.

Law had to quash his urge for revenge at seeing the man who killed Cora-san for the first time in years. He had to shake his head at Rebecca's questioning look. He can't afford to be sidetracked. His revenge has to be put on hold. Right now, Luffy's freedom is his top priority.

His time spent with Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates dulled his need for revenge that he couldn't believe he'd almost forgotten about it. The sight of the Warlord so close to him again brought it back, but for now, he'll suppress it in order to help Luffy. Even then, he still couldn't help the tight grip he had on his sword.

A few minutes later, they hear someone running from the opposite direction. Then they could see Luffy jump into Doflamingo's arm and was being held up in the air and swung around.

"Mingo! Finally found you," the boy laughed.

"You're late," the man chided, but Law and Rebecca could hear the fondness in his voice. Doflamingo brought the boy down from the air and let the boy hang off his neck and sit on one of his arm.

"Hehe. Sorry. Stupid guard was too busy to take me, and I got lost. Where's Delli? He always brings me and make sure I don't get lost," Luffy pouted.

"If you remember which guard, I'll be sure to kill him for that. As for Dellinger, there's some problems outside right now. He and the rest of the family are out there to deal with it. And that brings us to why I called for you," Doflamingo put the boy down and held his hand as they walked towards the viewing area with a wide hole in the wall for him to watch the battles. The two peeping couldn't see them once they walked away from the hall. "I need you to finish the last round quickly, so we can go clean up the mess out there."

"What's going on outside? Is that why Violet didn't come back yet? I'm hungry."

"Don't expected to see Violet again," Doflamingo growled. "She's betrayed the family. And you know what happens to traitors."

"Aww. But I really liked her," Luffy whined. "She always brings me food and fun stuff to play."

"Now, now. I'm sure Monet wouldn't mind taking her place. Run along. Your match is about to start."

"Okay. Toilet first."

"Let me guess, you don't remember where it is?" Doflamingo deadpanned.

"Nope. Take me there?"

Law and Rebecca waited until they were gone before they quietly walked out of the closet and went the opposite direction, with Law internally fuming at the fact that that _man_ dared to lay a hand on _his_ sister.

-*/-*/-*/

This time Law and Rebecca found themselves in the hidden docks, where their disguised ship anchored. Law looked around to see Doflamingo's underlings forcing toys to carry heavy looking crates to some merchant ships. Seems they were in a hurry to get all the crates out of Dressrosa before any could get damaged in the ensuing battle above them. There were so much going on and too many people for anyone to notice anything strange about them boarding their ship. They headed straight to the cabin once they were on board.

Seems Sabo and Koala, still in disguise, were already there with a strange white fluffy cloud looking tied-up man.

"What happened to you?" Law said in reference to Sabo's bandages. "And where are the Tontattas you said were helping you?"

"More like, what didn't happen," Sabo gave him a tense grin. "The little people went off to save their princess. Everything was going fine. In fact, I was beating the crap out of this bastard. Then he just had to go and tell me 'what a fine specimen' our brother was. Then everything went blank and let's just say that everything went to shit. Gas-ass nearly suffocated me a few times. Luckily, I accidentally kicked him into a seastone handcuff that just happened to be hanging on a wall. I had to use my pipe and toss it on him. Those things are amazing. The minute it landed on him, he just fell. Pathetic. Had Koala cuff him properly once we got here. Would have been easier if Lu didn't want him alive," he tossed Law a stack of files. "Lu's going to need your expertise once we get off this hell hole. Who's that?" Sabo nodded his head to Rebecca.

"Rebecca-ya," Law answered distractedly as he flipped through the file. He scowled as the read through them.

"Nice to meet you," Sabo held out his hand to the pink-haired girl. "I'm Sabo, and this is Koala."

Rebecca gave them both a hesitant handshake. "You too. Are…are you sure trusting Lucy is a good idea? I mean," she held up both hands when a frown showed on Sabo's face, "we just saw him, and he was acting very friendly with Doflamingo."

"She doesn't trust the so called right-hand man of Doflamingo's," Law answered distractedly.

Sabo placed his head in his hand and grinned. "We trust Luffy with our lives, just as he trusts us with his. It doesn't matter to me if you believe in him or not. We're doing what we want."

"I don't know the kid, but an order is an order. Boss says to help these guys out, so I am," Koala winked. "Besides, freeing people is part of my job description."

"I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that you guys want to help him. He doesn't look like he needs any help. He looks like he's doing just fine with Doflamingo. He even goes around killing people for that man."

"Sabo!" Koala yelled in surprise at the blond.

Rebecca raised a shaky hand to her face and felt the small cut from the knife embedded in the wall behind her.

"What happened to your rule of not hurting the opposite sex?" Law asked with his eyes still on the files.

"No such rule exists when someone says bad things about my dear little brother," Sabo said still smiling, though Rebecca could see the coldness in his eyes. "I don't know about Koala, but we've killed many people. Maybe you shouldn't trust us either, but as it stands, your life is now in our hand. So you have no choice but to just be quiet and let us do our thing."

He let out a frustrated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "What's taking Ace so long?"

"He's probably having trouble. That place is where they make the toys. He's probably trying not to involve any bystanders. What are you doing?" Law finally looked up from the papers in his hands when Sabo took out his den den mushi.

"Giving Ace motivation to finish faster," Sabo smirked. "Ace, what's taking you so long? You're the last one."

"Shut up, Sabo," Ace whispered, indicating he's currently hiding. "There's so many of those fucking toys. They just keep coming from – I don't know, thin air? Those things are relentless. What am I supposed to do about them? Didn't Luffy say they're supposed to be human? So don't kill them, right? And the little people are stuck in some kind of goo thing from this disgusting blob-guy-thing."

"Maybe," Sabo said flippantly. "But you might to hurry. Luffy's in trouble."

"Huh? What do you mean? I thought he was fine."

"Seems this Peter -" he waved his hand towards the gas man.

"Casear," Koala corrected him.

"- guy that I caught did some strange experiments on Lu," Sabo smirked evilly. "There's a huge stack of paper with reports of everything they did."

"What?!" Koala winced at the sound of something exploding over the phone. Then came some incomprehensible muttering from the other end of the call. "Dai-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait, Ace! Small, think small," Sabo yelled worriedly.

"-enkai!" And the whole island shook, causing some rubbles to fall in their cave and the ships to shake. "Hiken!" Seems Ace wasn't done and more rubbles fell, until there was a hole in the cave roof.

"Shit," Sabo said. "Koala, go out there and see if Ace needs to be fished out."

"You know," Law drawled, "that was completely your fault."

"Yeah, but I did stop him from going all out," Sabo said sheepishly. "At least the island is still intact."

Koala dragged a sopping wet Ace, his disguise long gone, with many Tontattas hanging off him, back into their cabin. The minute Ace's eyes landed on Caesar, he lit himself on fire, causing Koala to jump away from him and drying himself in the process.

"Cheater!" Ace charged at the bound man, only to be stopped by Law. "Let me go! I'm going to kill him."

"Calm down, Ace-ya, and its Caesar-ya. Lu-ya needs him alive, and I have a few questions for him about these experiments."

Ace finally relented at Law's word. Instead he stalked up to the bound man and kicked him hard enough to fly back into some crates. "And who's that?" He glared at the pink-haired girl sitting in the far corner, away from them.

"Rebecca," was all Sabo said, giving her a look as if daring her to say anything.

"Oh," Ace calmed back to normal. "The girl Lu said to protect. Okay. So now what?"

"While I was fishing you out," Koala huffed, "I noticed that the toys turned back to humans. I'm sure everyone's panicking right about now. Good job. I think we finally finished everything that needs to be done."

"Good, let's go get Luffy and pound that pink bastard," Ace punched a fist in his hand.

"I'll stay here with Caesar, and you take her with you," she pointed to the girl who seemed to have not listened to them. Rebecca looked stunned at something with tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong now?" Sabo sighed.

"My father," she whispered. "I have a father. Mr. Soldier is my father."

"Oh, right," Ace said, scratching his head, "the people who turns into a toys are forgotten. He must have turned back too, then."

"Mr. Soldier is your dad?" Leo asked from Sabo's shoulder. "We've been working with Mr. Soldier and Luffy to take down Doflamingo. It must have been dangerous for Luffy, getting all those information to us. I hope he's okay. Viola said he was doing better, but I'm still worried."

"And that's why we have to hurry," Sabo said. "Oh, take this." He picked up a handcuff from the floor with his pipe to Rebecca. "Seastone. You're the only one in this group who can touch it. Get it on that pink bastard when you see an opening." She nodded her head shakily as she wiped her eyes.

"Wait." Koala handed a shirt and a spare beard over to Ace, who just snatched it while grumbling.

With all the chaos of former toys fighting with with their tormentors all around them, it was easy enough for them to sneak pass.

-*/-*/-*/

When the toys started to turn back to humans during the tournament, Doflamingo ended the match and ordered Luffy to go check on the other executives and help them out if needed. The boy merely nodded and took off to find his family, leaving Doflamingo to deal with the mass panic at the stadium.

After checking to make sure everything was okay, he went back to the castle, where he knew Doflamingo was currently at. He climbed through the rubble and up to the roof, where he found the man.

Sabo was standing next to Doflamingo with his hand tied above his head by the Warlord's invisible strings and Ace with a knife pointed at Sabo. Law and Rebecca were standing a little bit away in the same position as Sabo. All three of his brothers were still disguised.

Luffy stared in amusement as Law spewed insults at Doflamingo, while Sabo was begging for Ace to stop. He pulled himself the rest of the way up onto the roof. "I'm back, Mingo," he said cheerily. "Everyone's got everything under control out there."

"Good, good," Doflamingo grinned.

"What'cha doing?" Luffy walked towards Law and Rebecca, the latter of whom glared at him. The boy just smiled at her.

"Taking out some trash."

"Oh, okay. Loosen the strings here a bit." Doflamingo watched in great amusement as Luffy made to move Law to stand behind Ace, then pulled Law's sword out and placed it in Law's hand, positioning it to attack the teen in front of him. Then he walked over to stand next to the still bound Rebecca. "Okay. That's better." Then bounced in place, looking excited at what was going to happen.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rebecca shouted at him. "They're -"

"But it's more fun this way," Luffy grinned, cutting in before she could say anything more.

Doflamingo let out a laugh and move his fingers, causing Ace to stab Sabo and Law to slice Ace. What the man hadn't counted on was for Ace and Sabo to have a Devil Fruit ability. As soon as they were cut, Ace and Sabo turned into flames, burning the strings attached to them, Law, and Rebecca.

"Who are you?" Doflamingo cried out in surprise of having two people going up in flames, glaring at the disguised trio.

They smirked at him and took of their disguises.

"Portgas D. Ace, Commander of Whitebeard's Second Division," Ace turned his back to show off his tattoo, their winged ASL symbol over Whitebeard's.

"Just Sabo is fine, also the Commander of the Second Division," Sabo held out the back of his left hand to show a tattoo similar to Ace's.

"Tralfalgar D. Water Law," he casually pushed away his left side of his buttoned up shirt to put his hand in his pants pocket, showing his ASL tattoo without Whitebeard's mark over his heart, just inside his tribal heart tattoo.

"Oh, oh, my turn! Monkey D. Luffy," he had his fists to his sides, looking proud of himself.

"D?!" the man said in surprise. "You're all Ds? Law, you traitor. To think you hid your real name from me. And to think you were hiding with those three the whole time!"

"Cora-san told me how much you feared D. carriers, so of course I hid it," Law smirked.

"I'm not a D. Think I should add it just for the hell of it?" Sabo turned to look at Ace, who just shrugged.

"Why not?"

"And you!" Doflamingo pointed at Luffy. "You lied to me!"

"No, I didn't. Everyone did get things under control. My family already took down all your executives and underlings. Shanks wants your head. Dad isn't a dragon," he looked genuinely upset about that. "Didn't see Grandpops yet. Grandpa is getting all the people onto marine ships and taking your guys to jail. Oh, and there's this _really_ weird guy with sharp eyes and a huge sword that looked bored. He looks familiar though. Oh and a bunch of the tournament fighters are helping us and warriors that used to be toys. See? Everything's under control," Luffy smiled. "Besides, I didn't have a choice but to let you do whatever you want. I was walking around with a bomb," Luffy huffed with his arms crossed. "Oh, and I'm never lost. I was just using it as an excuse to learn everyone's schedule and draw a map of the castle." He laughed.

"Who did you say?" Doflamingo took a step back with a frown.

Law took a key out of his pocket and went over to work on Luffy's anklet as Doflamingo's attention went to Ace and Sabo. He gave Luffy a hug in relief after freeing him. The relief he felt of having Luffy free and hugging him back was immense. So much so that he almost, _almost_ , forgot about his thoughts of revenge for Cora-san.

"Whitebeard, Akagami, Revolutionary Army, and the Marines," Ace grinned as he crossed his arms.

Sabo tsked at the man. "Really, now. You should have done your research when you kidnap children. If you did, you might have been able to avoid all this. Better yet, you could have had the whole world in your hands with just three children at your disposal," he gave the large man a grin.

"Who's the weird guy?" Luffy tilted his head.

"Good question," Sabo said. "He was already on Shanks's ship when we met up. Something about a party and not having time to drop him off or something. I think Shanks brought him on accident."

Luffy quickly pushed Rebecca behind him to another person who just came out of the same hole he just did, just as Doflamingo use his string to throw a large rock at them. "Crest Head, protect Rebecca."

Law threw the anklet bomb at the rock, causing an explosion in mid air and immediately charged after Doflamingo. The Warlord cursed as he realized the bomb was no longer on Luffy.

"Ye-yes, Lucy-senpai," Bartolomeo sputtered and quickly brought up a barrier to cover the both of them, blocking the rocks that came their way. Really, he'd only follow Lucy when he saw his idol. He didn't think he'd get to help. Oh, the happiness!

Law charged at Doflamingo with everything he had. Before him is the man who gave him no peace during those years before he met Luffy, the man who enslaved Luffy, the man who killed Cora-san. With Luffy now out of the man's clutches, Law is now free to have his revenge.

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy watched as Law attacked. They could only stand there and watch as there was no opening for them to help. Whenever they see an opening, Law would be in the way. There wasn't much they could do until Law was sent flying towards them and the concrete roof top. That was when Ace and Sabo took their turn, jumping up onto Doflamingo's invisible threads to attack.

Luffy ran over to bend over Law with concern in his eyes. "What's wrong, Trao? Did you forget about us?" When Law tried to get up without answer, intent on fulfilling his revenge, Luffy pushed his brother back onto the ground, sitting on him. "Trao?"

Law's eyes finally settled on Luffy to see tears in his youngest brother's eyes. "Lu-ya?" he said softly, wiping a stray tear.

"Trao forgot about us," Luffy sniffled. "We're here too. Me, Ace, and Sabo."

Reasoning came back to Law. He'd forgotten. They, too, want revenge on the damn Pink Bastard for ruining their lives, ripping them apart from their loved ones. It wasn't just his life that was ruined because of the man. All four of them wanted revenge, and he'd forgotten. There were too many things he's forgetting lately. His time with Whitebeard and the trio made him forget so much of his troubles that he'd forgotten so much. He shook his head and ruffled the boy's hair.

"I'm sorry, Lu-ya. I'm sorry for forgetting. Now why don't we go help Ace and Sabo in beating Joker," he gave Luffy's hair on last soothing pat before getting up with Luffy.

"Okay!" Luffy gave Law another hug before slinging the both of them up and over to where Ace and Sabo were.

Bartolomeo and Rebecca watched the fight in apprehension. Even with four against one, the two of them could tell that the Warlord had the upper hand. Though Bartolomeo insists that Lucy-senpai wasn't showing his full strength yet to assuage their worry.

They watched as the fight went from over the castle to over the rest of the island. All four utilizing Doflamingo's invisible strings to their advantage since not one of them could fly to reach the Warlord, though Ace and Sabo could send flying attacks at him.

The fight went on for some time when Sabo called out, "Hey, Luffy, watch this." Sabo shaped his left hand to look like a dragon's claw and lit it on fire, before jumping off one of the strings he was standing on, aiming his claws for Doflamingo. "Moeru Ryusoken: Kaen: Ryuo." The Warlord dodged the attack at the last second, causing the building behind him to turn burn to dust. "Dammit."

"Ooo," Luffy said with wide excited eyes. "Sabo can turn into a dragon!"

"Kind of," Ace said landing beside his youngest brother with a grin, "Your dad taught us Ryusoken. Since he couldn't help fight, something about attracting too much attention, he wanted to help out somehow. We both implemented our Devil Fruit power with what your dad taught us."

"So Dad is a dragon!" Luffy said excitedly.

Suddenly there was a light blue orb that surrounded the two of them, and they were transported a few feet away when Doflamingo sent a haki infused pillar of tread where they were just moments before.

"Thanks, Trao," Luffy laughed before blowing into this thumb. "Gear Third. Gigant Pistol!"

Doflamingo was stunned to see how large Luffy's fist had gotten to dodge the attack in time. He was sent soaring towards the castle and wasn't able to dodge the Gigant Bazooka after Luffy seemingly teleported right over him.

Instead of crashing into the roof, the Warlord was able to save himself by casting a net below to catch him in time.

What did crash into the roof was a smaller version of Luffy. Not wanting to be seen in his defenseless form, he ran over to hide behind Bartolomeo's barrier.

"Lucy-sempai! What happened?!" the green-haired pirate freaked out.

"This always happen after I use Gear Third," the chibi shrugged. "So I'm hiding here until I'm big again."

"What should I do about this?" Rebecca took out the seastone cuff from the coat she borrowed from Law, having just now remembering why she was brought there with the trio.

"Hey, keep that thing away from me," Bartolomeo took a step away from her. "Don't you know what those things do to fruit users like me?"

"Ooo. Nice. Hold on." He went off to pick up a rock and placed a wooden plank right on top of it. "Done. Put that here," he pointed to the end of the plank that was down.

Rebecca hesitantly placed the seastone where she was told and walked back.

Luffy walked towards the other end that was tilted up and looked up. Then all of the sudden, he was his normal size again. "Trao!" Once he got the attention of his brother, Luffy jumped on the plank, sending the seastone up and towards Law, who then swung his long sword to bat the cuffs towards Doflamingo's back, while the Warlord's attention was on Ace and Sabo.

The minute the seastone touched him, Doflamingo lost control over his strings, sending him crashing into the ground. Luffy made sure to kick the seastone to lay on top of the man.

Law, Ace, and Sabo ran over to the crater the fall made. Bartolomeo and Rebecca came over not too long after.

"Rebecca," Luffy called the girl over, "can you put these things on him? I wanna make sure it's stuck on him."

"S-sure," she cautiously placed the seastone cuffs on Doflamingo's wrists. With Law's help, she made it back to their sides.

"You know what I really want right now?" Luffy smiled to Doflamingo, standing on the man. "I want Trao to cut you open and pull out your intestines, -that's what those things are called right?- so Ace and Sabo can use them to light up pretty fireworks, while you stay right here and watch the rest of your insides turn into pretty sky flowers."

"That's…a little morbid, Lu-ya," Law said, giving the boy a strange look, while Rebecca looked a little green at the image.

"Then, can I hang him with his intestine? Those things are long enough, right?"

"I don't think that's the problem here, Luffy," Ace said. "Gramps wants him alive."

"Aww. Fine, but I'm getting one last hit in," Luffy said determinedly.

"I think he's allowed that much," Sabo said, looking to his brothers.

"Yay!"

"You fools!" Doflamingo growled at them. "You don't know who you're messing with!"

"Of course, I do. You've told me lots of times," Luffy gave the man a bored look as he readied his fist. "Warlord, works under Kaidou, used to be World Noble, and now you want revenge on them for something stupid."

"Uh, I think we should step back," Ace said worriedly as Luffy's skin turned pink and steam came out of his body.

"Marine Colosseo, grab Rebecca," Sabo called out.

"My name is Bartolomeo!" the green haired man yelled back before grabbing the girl by her midsection and running with the brothers.

They all screamed as the ground under them cave in.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** GreenDrkness pointed out something I completely forgot about. I can't believe I forgot about Law's grudge on Doflamingo. Did I make up for it in this chapter?

And I think I missed something again. -_-


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

 _Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment._

 _\- Rumi, Masnavi i Man'avi_

Garp, Dragon, Shanks, and a few Whitebeard Commanders stared at the castle before them as the last remaining battles around them were being finished.

"You think it's safe to let those kids fight Doflamingo by themselves?" Kyros asked in worry. "Even if Luffy is strong, they're just children."

"That's a good question," Izo gave the ensuing battle above the castle a worried look.

"Think one of us should go supervise?" Vista asked as he twirled the end of his mustache.

"The boys should be fine. Ace and Sabo should be able to handle things up there," Dragon said confidently.

"Of course," Garp declared. "Those are my grandchildren."

"I didn't mean to go help them out," Vista said as he looked up warily.

Riku gave them all a disbelieving look. "Those are just children. Shouldn't you all be more worried or go help them out? Doflamingo is a very dangerous man who can control people with his strings. He could control one of them to fight for him."

"There's no need to worry about those brats-yoi," Marco said. "You should be more worried about-"

There was a loud sound of things crashing coming from the roof of the castle, before the whole building came crashing down.

The former king and Kyros stared at the ruins of the castle in bewilderment.

"-your castle-yoi. I guess it's too late."

"Those damn brats," Garp grumbled, though he had a proud smile on his face. "Don't they know who has to help pay to rebuild that?"

Not moments later, they hear the boys arguing with each other.

"At least he's still alive," Luffy pouted at Ace, nursing a lump on his head, the only sign of injury on the boy.

"You didn't have to take the whole building down with us!" Ace yelled at him, sporting various cuts from Doflamingo's haki infused strings, along with Sabo and Law.

"He's lucky I didn't use Third Gear on him," Luffy grumbled, glaring at the man being dragged out of the rubbles by Law.

"That would have been overkill," Law sighed. "Then again, a haki infused punch while in Second Gear is also overkill. Isn't that the same move you used to take down that giant in the tournament?"

"So? Mingo's a giant pain in my ass," Luffy retorted.

"He was defenseless, Luffy," Sabo rubbed his hand over his face. "As much as I hate the man, punching him that hard while unable to move and already down is just wrong. A regular pistol punch would have been fine."

"Overkill is that," Luffy pointed to a building where the marines were working to put out the fire.

"Sabo's fault," Ace said with a blush.

"Definitely Sabo-ya's fault," Law agreed.

"How is that my fault? Ace did that!" Sabo yelled at the two.

"It just is," Ace huffed, sending a glare at Sabo, "and because of that stupid call of yours, I burned a few – toy? people? – just to get out faster."

They both looked to Luffy, who just yelped in pain, only to do the same, along with Law.

"What was that for?" Law exclaimed, nursing a lump on his head from Garp, dropping his hold on Doflamingo.

"That was for property damage. Who do you think has to pay for all the mess you boys caused?" Garp roared.

"None of the damages were even caused by me. Those were all your grandsons'," Law retorted.

"And who are you?" Garp asked the remaining two that followed out from the rubbles.

"Bartolomeo, mafia boss," the man said, looking down on the Vice Admiral. "What's it to you? And how dare you hit Luffy-senpai?"

"Mafia, pirates, you're all the same," Garp sent a haki infused punch on Bartolomeo's head before the mafia boss could create a barrier, sending him crashing to the ground. "How I discipline my grandson is none of your business. And you?"

"Rebecca?"

The girl looked behind the man to see her father and the former king looking at her with wide eyes. "Father! Grandfather!" She ran over to give them a hug.

Kyros then walked over to Luffy with his daughter and Riku. The former king held out his hand to the boy, who gave him a handshake with a grin.

"I would like to thank you for saving Dressrosa. I have heard much about you from Kyros and your part in the plan. You have put yourself in much danger for us. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," the man said gratefully to which Luffy laughed at.

"All I did was give Mr. Soldier information. He did the rest. All I wanted was to take down Mingo."

Riku shook his head at the boy's generosity. "Is there any way I can repay you?"

"Food. Lots of food. I'm hungry," Luffy held his stomach as it let out a loud growl, echoed by Ace and Sabo, who blushed.

Izo walked up to the group and grabbed Luffy's arm. "Food later. We need to get you checked and you three bandaged."

"Food first, please?" Luffy begged nervously.

"No. Check-up first, then you can eat," the kimono wearing man said as he dragged a protesting Luffy back to their ship, that was relocated closer to the island. "Thatch is already working on some snacks for you. You can eat more at the party later."

The boy dug his feet into the ground and Izo stretched the arm he was pulling. "I don't wanna! Dad, help me!" He turned to the person he wanted to spend more time with for help, thinking his dad would want the same.

Dragon looked to Garp, who had slung Doflamingo's unconscious form over his shoulder. "Your son. You deal with him. I have to get back to headquarters with this guy and pretend I didn't see any of you lot," and Garp walked away from them towards the marine ship that was waiting for him. "But first, I have to get the civilians off my ships."

With a sigh, Dragon walked over to Luffy and picked him in the same manner Garp had Doflamingo. "Sorry, son, but this is for your own good."

"Oh, is that the stuff I told you to get from Caesar?" Luffy asked when Law handed the files to Izo. "Shouldn't that go to Grandpops or Pops?"

"Why would files concerning your health go to them?" Law asked.

The boy paled and struggled a little more when Law handed Izo the file they had gotten from Caesar's lab. "Those weren't the files you were supposed to get. You were supposed to find the stuff about whatever Mingo wanted Caesar to make."

"Opps," Sabo said and pointed towards a burnt and destroyed building.

Izo turned his head to glare at the struggling boy, waving the file at him, "This is more important. As your doctors, Kobato and I have the right to know everything that's going on with your body. If not for your health, then for the safety of everyone on Moby."

That had the boy slump in defeat. The head doctor was right. He had to keep his family safe, especially from himself. The fight with Diamante told him that much.

-*/-*/-*/

Kobato nearly tore the papers apart in anger as she read through them. "You!" she pointed at the boy. "Bed. Now." They were in the Second Division Commander's room since there wasn't much room to move around in the infirmary with all the injured pirates. Ace, Sabo, and Law had brought all the equipments Izo thought was necessary after being bandaged up.

Not liking how angry the normally meek woman was, Luffy laid on the bed. She went on to prod and poked him, checking his temperature, and anything else she thought to do. Once she was done, she frowned and sighed. Law, who had been helping, stood by Ace, Sabo, and Dragon to hear her diagnosis. Though, Law already knows what she's going to say.

"Luckily, the experiments were only on expanding your haki. The only problem I see in the future regarding that is the fluctuation of your haki before it settles. Unfortunately, I don't know how long that will take," she the motioned to Law. "I don't know much about haki, but Law or Izo can fill you in on what to expect later."

Luffy nodded, even though he didn't really understand, but trust Law to explain it to him.

"Right now, I'm more concerned about the drugs administered."

Luffy twitched at the mention of the drugs. He didn't know what they gave him, but he knew to expect the withdrawal symptoms. It shouldn't be as bad as the last time, or so he hoped. "They wanted to get me to talk, say things, like where I've been, even though they knew I was on Pop's ship, who I was with, if I'm hiding anything, stuff like that. Didn't work, I think. Passed out a few times after. There was this one time I woke up in Mingo's room. Don't remember how I got there."

"What happened with your fight with Diamante?" Law asked.

"Right before the fight, Gassy did something and ... I don't know what happened. I just wanted to kill everything I saw," Luffy scrunched his face in thought. "And it made me a lot more powerful. It was really hard to control."

"I see, so…" she trailed off, unsure of how to word it, "well, with your haki going haywire, it may be best to put you in a holding cell until the symptoms subside."

"You're going to put my son in a cell?" Dragon asked in disbelief at what they're asking of his son.

"It's going to have to be one with seastone," Ace said looking at Dragon. "For the safety of the crew. When he was younger, it wasn't so bad because he wasn't as strong. But now, he could easily hurt, or worse, kill someone without meaning to."

"There were a few times when Luffy would – I guess throw a tantrum? – and it's always hard to get him to calm down without hurting anyone," Sabo explained.

"It's okay, Dad," Luffy said as he sat up on his bed. "Everyone here takes good care of me. I don't want to hurt them on accident."

Dragon just sighed in resignation. "I'd like to spend some time with my son before I leave."

Kobato nodded. "You won't be showing signs of withdrawal for at least a few more days. Thatch will let you know when your snacks are ready."

"Yay! I'm taking Dad to our room," Luffy said and jumped up to push the desk out of the way.

They all left the two to catch up on lost time.

As Kobato, Ace, Sabo, and Law walked down the hall, they ran in to Thatch. "Hey, how's the brat? Snacks are done."

"I'm on my way to report to Pops. You can get your update there. He has lost weight, though," Kobato said tiredly. "And he's spending time with his dad right now. Give them an hour."

Viola, who had just walked out of the infirmary where she was helping to tend the injured, overheard. "That shouldn't be. He ate everything that was given to him, and we fed him quite well."

"Yeah, but how much did you feed him and what?" Thatch raised an eyebrow.

"We gave him the same as what the family executives would eat, and he would ask for snacks in between meals," she answered, looking confused and worried. "The first month or so he would ask for seconds."

"So normal portions for normal people," Thatch concluded. "What kinds of snack?"

"Fresh fruits."

"Did you prepare the meals?"

"No. Our meals were prepared by Monet. Is something wrong?" She asked when she saw Ace and Sabo pale.

"Luffy eats enough to feed at least ten full grown men, plus snacks. I'm surprised he didn't demand more food, especially when it sounded like he was treated so well considering he was technically a prisoner," Sabo said.

"Thatch! More food!" Ace grabbed the head cook and shook him frantically.

"Whao, calm down there," Thatch stopped the shaking. "He can eat as much as he wants during the party. I'll make sure there's enough for him."

"He was so compliant the whole time. I didn't realize," Viola said worriedly. "If he had said something, I'm sure we could have gotten him more food easily."

Kobato placed a hand on Viola's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. That would be Luffy's own doing. And just so you know, compliant isn't a word we would normally associate with that boy. We know him as a trouble-making, selfish brat. He does what he wants. You are not to blame. If anything," she glared at Ace and Sabo, "it's their fault for raising him that way."

"And he turned out great!" They both said, looking proud of themselves, only to be smacked on the back of their heads by Law.

"That wasn't a praise."

"You're not any better," Kobato reprimanded him. "You spoil him just as much these idiots."

"If it's like that," Marco said as he walked passed them, on his way to his room, "then you should blame everyone here. The whole crew spoils the brat." With that he closed the door to his room to finish up some work. As much as he wanted to see Luffy right now and give him a huge hug, he has to tend to his division duties and part of Division 2 since Ace and Sabo still hasn't gotten the hang of everything yet. The only thing that's stopping him from barging in on Luffy right then and there was the fact that his boy was home.

-*/-*/-*/

"Luffy, snacks are ready," Thatch called out in the galley an hour later.

"Food!" They hear the boy cheering from right under them.

A door opened from the floor boards and Dragon climbed up with Luffy, now wearing a yellow dress and his straw hat, hanging off his dad's back. He jumped off once they were out. The man gave the other three teens considering look. "You boys need a new hobby. It's bordering creepy."

Ace and Sabo gave him a knowing grin. "You can't have him back, you know. He belongs to us now," they both said.

"You two are the creepiest," Dragon said as he sighed and took a seat next to his son. "It's almost as if you two are one person in two bodies."

"I think they're secretly twins," Koala commented. "Bet they can communicate telepathically, too."

"I'm inclined to think it's because they share the same Devil Fruit," Izo said. "They weren't so in sync with each other before then. Luffy, eat slower. No one's going to steal your food. The only thing they had in common before the fruit was their abnormal obsession with your kid."

"I'm surprised you haven't commented on his dress," Law said timidly, a little afraid of the intimidating man he's meeting for the first time.

"There's an okama Queen working for the revolutionary army," was all the explanation Dragon gave.

"I think the dress looks cute on him," Koala gushed. "And we were already expecting it. Those two," she gave Ace and Sabo a look of disgust, "showed us pictures after pictures of mostly Luffy in dresses."

"You weren't joking about the amount of food he eats," Viola said as she watched the amount of food Luffy consume.

"That's just snack," Kobata said. "He has an abnormally high metabolism. That may be the cause of his stunted growth, coupled with malnutrition at a very young age. It's the reason why Thatch personally prepares the food for the kids. He's in charge of their nutritional intakes."

"I'm also the head cook here. I'm not about to let anyone live on this ship hungry, nor am I going to let the lack of food be the reason anyone is sick," Thatch said proudly.

Ace and Sabo watched Luffy eat, happy that he was back, and Sabo noticed something. "Did you give Luffy a bath?" he asked Dragon with a surprised look.

Dragon nodded. "He needed one."

"How did you get him to stay in the bathroom until you got clothes on him?" they both slammed their hands on the table and leaned over to Dragon.

The man furrowed his eyes in confusion. "He just kept talking nonstop about what he's done while on the ship."

"Lu-ya has a habit of running out of the bath before even getting dried," Law explained.

The sound of tiny cheers called attention to their new visitors, cutting off Dragon's response. The Tontattas clung on various parts of Luffy's clothing in a hug. "Luffy! We're so glad you're okay," Leo said. Kyros, Rebecca, and Riku followed in after the little people.

"We thought you were going to die," Flapper said, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm fine. See?" Luffy laughed. "Did you find your man princess?"

"Princess Mansherry," Leo corrected him. "Yes, we did."

A small girl walked up to Luffy's plate and bowed. "Thank you for helping my people."

"You'd make a great revolutionary, kid. You just saved a whole kingdom, a very selfless act. Maybe you should come back with your father," Hack suggested.

Luffy just tilted his head in thought. "I didn't really care about saving the kingdom. I just wanted to mess with Mingo without getting myself in trouble. I met Leo, and he said he wants to save a princess. Then Mr. Soldier came and said he wants to take out Sugar so he can be human again. And I knew you guys were going to come, so I used them to get you information, especially about Mergo -"

"Vergo," Viola corrected.

"- in case you called Gramps. I was lucky that Mingo was letting me go wherever I wanted. I pretended to get lost and spied on lots people." Luffy laughed.

"Told you Luffy was selfish," Ace grinned at everyone's, minus the Whitebeard Pirates, gob smacked look.

"For Doflamingo to be that trusting towards anyone was very strange. He trusts no one, not even the top executives," Viola said. "He was very off-guard around Luffy."

Rebecca nodded. "I was sure you were on his side. It almost looked like he was caring for you like he would his own child. How did you do that? How did you get him to trust you like that?"

"I don't know. I just did whatever he wanted. Next thing I know, Mingo was spending lots of time with me."

"You two spent a lot of time reading in the library," Viola pointed out. "How were you gathering information like that?"

"I wasn't really reading. I wanted to know where everyone goes everyday. That was the best place to keep track of everyone, and I wanted Mingo to know I wasn't doing anything wrong. So I stayed where he can see me."

"What does Pizza -"

"Caesar," Law corrected.

"- have to do with anything?" Sabo asked. "You wanted him alive, so I had a very hard time dealing with him."

"Oh, the gas-guy. Mingo kept going on and on about how Kaido had his back or something and that Gassy was doing secret work for him. I remembered Trao saying to cover all bases, so I thought to use Gassy if this Kaido-guy comes after us."

"Good thinking, Lu-ya," Law ruffled the boy's hair. "You did a lot of thinking, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I don't like it. Hurts my head," Luffy scrunched up his face in disgust.

"That's great that you listened and all, but didn't we also tell you to be careful and to not do anything dangerous?" Sabo said. He had a smile on, but everyone there knew he wasn't happy.

"That's right. Do you know how worried we were when Pops found our ship in the middle of nowhere, and you weren't on it? We all thought you fell over and drowned. Luckily, Trao told us there was someone who could fly working for the pink bastard. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known to come. Care to explain?" Ace said with a scowl.

"Monet and Pisca threaten you guys, so I had to go with them," Luffy whined as if a child not getting the candy he wanted.

"We could have taken care of ourselves, Lu-ya. Or do you not trust Whitebeard-ya and everyone else to be strong enough?" Law asked.

"No. I know everyone is strong, but I didn't want Mingo to come after us later. What if when I leave home to find One Piece, he attacks you guys or my crew? What if not everyone on my crew is strong or they can't fight? I don't know if I'd be able to protect them all," Luffy said as if it were a well known fact.

Kingdew, who had just walked passed their table, stopped in shock and quickly ran out back to the deck. "Everyone, rejoice! The runt used his brain!" There was a shocked silence before everyone on deck cheered loudly.

"What? The brat has brains?" They could hear Shanks exclaim through the cheers, before he joined in the cheering.

Then there was a couple of thuds.

"The party is later. Get back to work. We need to restock the ship before we leave in the morning," they heard Marco say.

"Pops!" Luffy cheered before running out the galley to find Marco.

"Speaking of which," Thatch said, pushing himself up from his seat, "I need to finish preparing for tonight's party."

"We need to leave also," Dragon got up from his seat, followed by Koala and Hack. "Thank you all for taking great care of my son. I will see Whitebeard before we leave to thank him also."

"This has got to be the weirdest group of pirates I have ever met," Riku said, amusement clear in his voice.

"Are you really leaving so soon?" Viola asked.

"We have to," Izo answered. "The marines will be back to help rebuild your kingdom. We've already caused enough trouble for Garp. He's already have to think of a story to keep his men out of trouble. If anyone finds out that they worked with pirates, they would be in trouble, Sengoku included."

-*/-*/-*/

The entire island joined in on the party. Kyros had gone around earlier with the former king to inform everyone who to thank for freeing them from Doflamingo. More than half of the people crowded around Luffy to thank him, as if everything were his idea. This greatly annoyed the boy as all he wanted to do was to get to the food.

At one point, he even resorted to yelling at the people, "I'm not a hero. Stop calling me that. I'm a pirate! Give me my food!"

Once he finally reached where Thatch set up his cooking area (it really wasn't far from the ship, but it just took Luffy and his brothers longer than it would normally take because of being surrounded by grateful people) Luffy took to hiding behind one of his many brothers just so he could eat in peace. He liked parties. He liked being around people, but he really didn't like be kept away from food. Especially, when he's super hungry.

"There you are, kid." Luffy tensed behind Law before he recognized the voice as Shanks. He turned to look around his brother to see the man.

"Shanks!" he yelled as he ran over to give the man a hug. Then he looked to see the other man staring at him with strange gold eyes. Then it clicked. "I remember you," Luffy pointed. "Mingo made me watch lots of recordings with you fighting."

Shanks and Thatch paled at that, and the man next to him looked curious. "Why would he have you do that?"

Luffy looked at the man thoughtfully before answering. "Because you're the Greatest Swordsman in the World."

"That answers nothing," the man scoffed.

"I'm more interested in how he got the recording," Shanks said. "Oh, yeah. Luffy, this is Dracule Mihawk."

"Right, a hawk," Luffy nodded. "So how do you cut down a huge ship without breaking your sword? When I tried it, the sword broke into tiny pieces. Is it because you use that huge black one on your back?"

"You managed to use my attack?"

"Yeah. Mingo said to cut down this one marine ship, so I did. Broke the sword though," Luffy looked put off at the thought of breaking the sword.

"Luffy!" Ace smacked the boy on his head. "You don't say things like that to people."

"But why?" Luffy said with his hand on his head. "He's Shanks's friend, right? That means he's a good guy."

"Luffy, did you get enough to eat?" Sabo asked. The boy nodded happily. "Then, how about a dance?" he gestured to the bonfire where people were already dancing.

"Okay!" The two left the others to clear up the mess Luffy caused.

"That boy is dangerous to have around," Mihawk said, eyes never leaving the boy.

"Oh, we know that," Thatch said with a smile. "But he's a good kid. Here, have something to eat. Don't think about it too much. We're here to help guide him in the right direction."

"If it helps any," Ace said, "it's not something he can control. He can't un-see what's been shown to him. Blame the pink bastard. He's the one that did that to Luffy. Something about wanting an army of strong fighters or something. Too bad for him, Lu's the only one that survived."

"I heard that he defeated Diamante single-handedly," Thatch said proudly. "Bet he could have taken down everyone else too."

"So glad he didn't do that and had the right mind to wait for us," Law sighed. "He's just one person, a very small person. Taking on all the executives and Joker all at once by himself would have been suicidal."

"His talent is one thing, but I'm speaking of his ability to get in Doflamingo's favor. The former royal guards that were in the dungeon with the boy were talking about how Doflamingo seemed to pamper the boy," Mihawk said. "Doflamingo doesn't seem like the kind of person to pamper anyone."

"That is true," Shanks said. "Who would pamper their prisoner anyway?"

They stood there talking for a while, people coming and going, eating, and having fun. Then Sabo came running at them, carrying Luffy in his arms, looking panicked. "Where's Izo or Kobato?" He demanded before anyone could ask what happened.

They all looked at Luffy's sweaty face and the way the boy's arms were wrapped around his stomach.

"I saw Izo earlier over there," Thatch pointed to a direction. "Kobato should still be on the ship."

Ace, Law, and Shanks took off after Sabo to the ship.

"What happened?" Kobato exclaimed upon seeing the state Luffy's in.

"I'm not sure. We were dancing, and then he said he was hungry again. He saw a food stall and wanted to try it. We ate some, and then he said he wasn't feeling good. Half way to getting back to Thatch to find you, he doubled over and complained of stomach pains," Sabo explained as Kobato lead them to the same room they used earlier for Luffy's check-up.

As soon as he laid Luffy on the bed, the boy rolled over to the side and hurled. It was only a small content of what he had eaten that day, but it was the blood that accompanied that worried everyone. The boy only rolled back onto his back and panted, pain evident on his face.

"I want everyone, but Law, out. This room is too cramped for us to work with so many people," Kobato said tersely.

Not even thirty minutes later, the door opened to reveal Law, looking worried. Marco, Thatch and Mihawk had joined them sometime during then. As he opened the door wider for him to walk out, they all saw Luffy asleep on the bed, with Kobato quietly tucking him in. Instead of waiting, Marco barged his way in to the room.

"What's wrong?" Sabo asked.

"The idiot didn't tell anyone that they've been lacing his food with poison. Not with the intent to kill him, but to make him immune to them," Law growled as he punched a nearby wall. He continued once he had his emotion under control. "The poison eroded the lining of his stomach, causing him some problems digesting some food. Whatever he ate at the vendor had too much oil and grease for his stomach to handle. That's why he was fine with Thatch's food."

The head cook nodded in understanding. "That's right. I don't use anything too fatty for you boys or much seasoning, letting the flavor and nutrient of the ingredients do all the work."

"Best to not let anyone else know for now. Let the people enjoy themselves and not worry about Luffy," Kobato said as she exited. "He needs the rest right now anyway."

The all looked in the room once more before leaving to see a defeated looking Marco sitting on a chair next to Luffy's bed, petting the boy's hair.

That night when the three older boys came to check up on Luffy, they found Marco sleeping on the bed with Luffy's face buried in the man's chest. Shrugging, the three ended up sleeping together on the floor just so they could be close to their youngest brother.

-*/-*/-*/

By the time they departed the next morning, Luffy was still sleeping. Before he woke up, the entire ship had been briefed about his condition. At least now no one would panic if they randomly fell asleep from his haki going out of control. Law, Ace, and Sabo would sleep outside of the cell at night with him.

The second day, Luffy could feel himself feeling twitchy and a little irritated, so he walked himself into a special cell set up for him, with Haruta locking the door behind him apologetically. There would always be a commander there to watch him and keep him company. Every so often, other crew members would come to check up on him and talked to him, telling him the going ons on the ship.

The third day, Law, Ace, and Sabo came down with the newspaper in hand. They excitedly told him about their new bounty. They held up their own to show him. The three of them smiled happily at the cameraman. The picture looked like it was taken during the party, but they didn't know when the picture was taken. None of them remember posing for it.

Then they showed him his. It was a picture of him dancing happily in his dress.

"That's funny," Luffy laughed. "My bounty is higher than your guys'."

"That's probably because they heard that you took down Diamante on your own," Sabo grinned. "I like that they put a D. in my name. Must be Gramps' doing."

"Yeah, but then they took it off mine," Law looked confused.

"Your name is too long," Ace laughed. "Tralfalgar D. Water Law. Yeah, no room for all that."

"The article also says three out of four of us are the ASL trio, but they can't figure out which one of you two is L," Sabo laughed.

"We both are," Luffy decided. "Me and Trao can take turns. Bet that would be fun."

"That would certainly confuse the marines, what with one of us being of different height each time," Law grinned.

"I want a tattoo too," Luffy said suddenly. "The same one Trao got."

During his couple months in the cell, he had a few violent outbreak. The commanders on watch each time could only watch on in sympathy, though they enjoyed the reaction from Caesar, who was in the cell next to Luffy. The gas man would scramble as far as he could from the boy's cell and scream in fear, sometimes crying like a baby.

There was once when it was just Jozu watching him, when Luffy asked if everyone was okay, worriedly.

"Of course, they are. Why are you asking?"

"Because everyone's flickering on and off."

Jozu laughed and assured the boy it was because of his haki and told him to not panic when they all disappear from his senses. "Your haki will be back in working order in no time."

He was let out after a week of no violent outburst, even though his haki was still not back to normal. By the time Luffy was free of his cell, everyone on Moby had gotten used to their random naps. Someone even admitted to the boy, "Now, I know how Ace feels when his nap attacks happen."

-*/-*/-*/

One morning Marco found Luffy trying to shake his brothers awake through the bars, looking panicked. "What's wrong-yoi?" he asked alarmed.

"Marco!" Luffy gave him a relieved smile before he went back to looking panicked. "Is everyone okay? I can't sense anyone."

Marco crouched down to ruffle the boy's hair. "Everyone is fine-yoi. It's probably just your Observation Haki shutting down. It should be temporary-yoi." He looked to Ceasar for clarification.

"Yes. Yes," the gas man answered in annoyance. "He's probably over his withdrawals too, so just get him as far away from me as possible."

The Commander just gave the prisoner a glare and unlocked Luffy's cell, kicking the other three awake on the way. Marco picked Luffy up and carried him up to the deck. "See? Everyone's fine-yoi." He then walked them over to Whitebeard and set Luffy on the captain's lap.

"I don't like it," Luffy mumbled with his face buried in his Grandpop's lap.

"What is it you don't like, child?" Whitebeard asked.

"I don't like when I can't sense everyone. It's scary," his voice cracked as he tried to hold back his tears. "and lonely."

Whitebeared picked the boy up and sat him up properly, so that he could see the entire deck. "Look at everyone, Luffy." Everyone who were awake and on deck waved at the boy with a smile, happy to see him out again. "We're all doing fine. No one is hurt. We're all here with you. There's no reason for you to be lonely when you're home. Why don't you sit here with me, where you can see your family easily, until breakfast is ready."

Marco, Law, Ace, and Sabo ended up sitting there on the upper deck with them. As soon as a crew member woke up and heard that Luffy was with Whitebeard, they went to greet the boy.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** I hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving~ I did. I ate so much that I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds. hahaha

I have no medical background and no medical knowledge. I made up stuff. Sorry if what I wrote is all wrong. (*´-｀*)

Almost 200 reviews and over 350 story followers! Thank you!

One more chapter and an epilogue that I haven't written yet. I wasn't planning on writing one, but since I'm going to do a sequel, I figured I'd put one in. Oh and 3 omakes.


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

 _Just because the past  
didn't turn out like you  
wanted to, doesn't mean  
your future can't be better  
_ _than youve ever imagined._

 _-unknown_

After his last check-up with Izo, Kobato, and Law, Luffy is now back to his usual life on Moby Dick. His haki has settled, so there would be no more random fainting family members, and his stomach has gotten better. He could eat anything he wanted to again.

Now that life has gone back to normal, Whitebeard decided to drop Caesar off at the nearest Marine base after assuring Luffy that Kaido wouldn't dare to lay a hand on his family. They had no real reason to keep a prisoner for long term. It's just be a waste of resource and man power to keep him alive. Of course, Luffy fully agreed after learning that part of his family's food were being used to feed the prisoner.

A month after being free of his cell life and a week after dropping off Caesar, he was on an island with Bekky as his chaperon. Law, Ace, and Sabo left to go on a mission that morning after spending a whole day with Luffy exploring the island. They wanted to spend as much time as they could with him before leaving, even though their mission shouldn't take them more than a few days.

While everyone was off to do their own things, Luffy and Bekky enjoyed their lunch at a pub. Bekky smiled as he watched the boy next to him happily eating everything laid in front of him, grateful that he could eat whatever he wanted again and chatting away at what he'd done yesterday with his brothers.

Just as Luffy was finishing the last of his meal, three beautiful young ladies walked up to the two of them. Luffy looked up and stared at them for a moment before recognizing them. "I remember you!" he pointed at them with a smile, quite proud of himself for remembering them. "You guys were following us yesterday."

"Oh?" Bekky narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously. "What reason would you have for following Luffy?"

One of the girls crossed her arms and huffed with a light blush tinting all three of their faces. "We weren't following her." Bekky looked to Luffy and remembered the boy was wearing the same yellow sun dresses he wore yesterday with flowers decorating his straw hat. "We wanted a chance to talk to the two Whitebeard Commanders and the other guy she was with." The blush on their faces darkened.

Bekky's mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh. The whole crew had noticed how older three would get a few shy glances from the girls during the months that Luffy was confined in his cell. It seemed their wanted posters from Dressrosa and the few missions they were sent on that landed them in the news gotten them admirers along the way. There were a few girls that were brave enough to confront the trio, but they were shot down effortlessly. The Whitebeard Pirates laughed at how clueless Ace and Sabo were of their fans. Law knew what was going on but ignored them.

The three of them usually didn't spend much time on the islands without Luffy. They'd hurry to gather what they needed and went back to spending time with their youngest brother. So there weren't many that were able to approach them.

"You could have just went up and talked to them," Bekky offered, still trying not to laugh.

"They did," Luffy said with his head tilted to the side, "Sabo said something, and they left."

"We asked if we could show them around, but we were told that they were busy accompanying this young lady," one of the other girls said with small smile.

"So then, what do you want with us?" Bekky asked. "As you can see, it's just the two of us."

"We thought we'd spend some time with her and show her around, since Ace and Sabo likes her," the third girl said with a friendly smile. "We want to know what they like about her and maybe get some pointers to get in their favor," she ended with a shy smile to Luffy.

Luffy tilted his head as he regarded the girls before beaming at them. "Okay."

Bekky merely shrugged. "What ever my lady wants, I guess. But I have to with to keep her out of trouble."

"Oh, you don't have to," the first girl said, giving him a flirty smile. "We promise to watch her for you."

"Oh, no. You don't understand," he said with a lopsided grin. "Wherever she goes, trouble follows. The family isn't going to be too happy with me if we loose her again."

The three girls looked at each other nervously, wondering who this girl was to have a bodyguard.

-*/-*/-*/

After walking through the town with the three girls, showing them various places that they would have been able to find themselves, Bekky and Luffy found themselves being led towards the forest that was far from town.

"I think it's about time we should head back," Bekky said just before they entered the forest, holding Luffy's hand. "It's getting dark."

"This forest is completely safe, even at night," one of the girls said. "We have a cabin there. We can have dinner there."

"Maybe another time. Quite a few people will panic if we don't show up for dinner since we didn't tell anyone where we went," Bekky said. He turned to walk away before the girls could say anything else, determined to take Luffy back in time for dinner. Who knows what Marco would do if they didn't show up. He had to stop when Luffy didn't budge. "Luffy?"

The boy was looking straight at the forest with a thoughtful look. There was no way Bekky is going to suffer Marco's wrath, so he picked the boy up. "Come on, Lu. Dinner should be ready by the time we get back."

"Food!" Luffy cheered at the prospect of getting food.

"Why don't you girls join us? There'll be plenty of food," Bekky offered.

Soon the girls were in front of the large crowd of pirates on the beach. "Whitebeard Pirates?" one asked in shock.

"You didn't know? Thought you did since you recognized our Second Division Commanders," Bekky smiled apologetically as he set Luffy back on the ground. They watched as the boy in the yellow sundress run up to the group nearest the large captain.

The three girls didn't know what to do but to follow Bekky as he weaved through the throngs of pirates seated on the beach. He led them towards where his some of his division were seated, which happens to be close to the commanders and captain. The girls sat down in between him a female pirate.

They watched in amazement as all different kinds of appetizing dishes were placed in front of them. "Dinner is served, Princess," they heard someone say. Curious and surprised, the girls looked up to see a tall man in a chef's uniform with a pompadour place several large plates of food in front of the girl they planned on tricking into getting lost in the forest.

Their plan was to loose the bodyguard in the crowds and loose the girl in the forest full of dangerous animals. When they couldn't shake the bodyguard, they decided to just loose both of them in the forest.

Startled, they almost didn't hear the female pirate beside them ask them a question. "So who are you girls? I'd never thought that Bekky would brings us three beautiful girls for dinner."

"They want to get to know Luffy, so they can talk to the idiots," Bekky answered easily.

"We – we – _is she really a princess?!_ " one of the girl hissed quietly, pointing to Luffy.

"Oh, you're interested in our Luffykins?" the female pirate asked before leering at the three girls. "Or maybe its her knights you're interested in. If so, give it up. Those three aren't interested in anyone but their precious Luffy." She waved the idea off.

"Princess? Well, in a way she is," another man in their group said. "I mean, she does have the connections to bring enough manpower to take down a whole kingdom."

"Just wait until she sits on the throne," another laughed. "Imagine how much power she'd have." Then everyone at the table went silent as they thought on it.

Then the female pirate laughed. "Little Lu already has that, plus some. Those four took down a Warlord on their own."

"Four? Don't you mean three?" one of the girls asked, thinking they were talking about the three handsome men that were walking with Luffy.

"No. It was defiantly four," someone laughed.

"Don't let the kid fool you. May look like a shrimp, but Luffy was the one who turned the whole stone castle into rubbles with one punch."

"That princess?" The girls turned to see Luffy sitting on Marco's lap, stuffing his face with food that looks good enough to feed royalty. It probably is.

"Princess?" Thatch said as he came over to their group with more plates of food for them. "Oh, Princess Luffy." He grinned. "You interested in her story?"

"I am," answered the female pirate. "You guys never told me how you ended up with four kids on the ship."

"Well, it started off once upon a time," Thatch started theatrically, "in a far off kingdom. A King had a child, a beautiful princess, whom the whole kingdom adored. One day the princess was kidnapped by an evil, evil man and was never to be seen again. The king searched and searched, he poured all his resources into finding his beautiful princess. He even went against the World Government's order, to stop his search and to go back to his kingdom. Unbeknownst to the evil man, his plan was thwarted by two adorable little knights who vowed to protect the princess, who they didn't know was a princess at the time. They whisked her away and the three of them were soon picked up by Pops. The King rejoiced after finding out his daughter was under the care of an Emperor and asked for us to keep her there until she is strong enough to protect herself. And here, they lived happily ever after. The end."

There was silence at the table as the pirates laughed at Thatch's story. "Sounds about right," someone said in between laughs.

"You forgot Law," someone pointed out.

"Uh," Thatch scratched his head at that. "Truthfully, I have no idea how he joined. There was this party, and Luffy destroyed the kitchen, and the next thing I know, he was there helping with the repairs. I don't know. He just randomly showed up. I heard Luffy picked up him. Kinda like you," he pointed to the only female pirate sitting there.

She laughed at him. "I don't think it's the same, Commander. I mean, really. I can't see Law trying to pickpocket Sabo in broad daylight." She turned to tell the girls, "Luffy caught me red-handed and dragged me to Whitebeard. Scared the living daylights out of me. Thought this huge scary captain was going to feed me to the sea kings. You know what Luffy said to Whitebeard? He said, 'She's coming with us,' and just left me there with Pops, who was laughing his head off. I just ended up staying because I had nowhere else to go. I had no money, no food, no house, and now I have everything I ever need."

A man sitting next her slung an arm around her shoulder and brought her into a lopsided hug. "And we're happy to have you."

"You know, it's not just the Idiot Trio that Lu always thinks about. You maybe our newest member, but he considers you family too," Thatch said. "He knew you were a good person, even though you tried to steal Sabo's money. That's why he thought you'd fit right in with the rest of us. You're not the only stray he picked up. Law was just the first of many."

Thatch then bent over to stage whisper to the female pirate, "Bet you've never seen Marco loose his cool before, have you?" She shook her head in amusement. "The only way to get Marco to loose that bored face of his is to show him Luffy with a paper cut." Everyone, but the three girls, laughed loudly.

That was a plate collided with Thatch's head. "As if the rest of you cretins wouldn't do the same-yoi," Marco said as if he didn't just throw a large, heavy plate at his own brother.

Thatch laughed with his back on the sand, as if he didn't just get hit. "You should have seen him when the kids were younger, when we first found them. He was way worse back then."

"But Thatch, you were the same," Bekky grinned. He then turned to the girls and the female pirate, "Actually, we all were. Imagine a ship full of pirates with no parenting skills taking care of three kids. Yeah, we had no idea what we were doing. Sure, we had females on the crew back then too, but even them and the nurses had no idea what to do with kids, having never really been exposed to them for long periods of time. Luckily, we had Kobato to help."

The female pirate laughed hard. "I can see that. I maybe a woman, but I have no idea how to take care of a kid, much less raise one."

Most of the pirates, Thatch included, turned somber. "Yeah," Thatch breathed quietly. "We have to give props to Ace and Sabo for raising our Princess themselves without any guidance."

"To Ace and Sabo!" someone called out after a moment of somber silence. Everyone, including those who didn't hear the conversation, held their drinks up to toast Ace and Sabo, who weren't even there.

"With Law's help, the three of them raised that kid up good," Bekky said as he helped Thatch up so he could get back to work.

"That's so dreamy," one of the girl gushed.

"Who wouldn't want a man who knows how to raise a kid?" sighed another. All three had dreamy looks in their eyes.

"As dreamy as it may be, Ace and Sabo didn't have choice at the time. Luffy was just forced on them. The kid's only three years younger than them, you know. It wasn't easy for those two kids to take care of a toddler at their age with what they had," a pirate said somberly. "Most of us were there when we picked those kids up. The shape they were in when we did, I'm surprised they survived that long. They probably sacrificed so much to keep Luffy alive."

"To Ace and Sabo, Luffy is their life. They'd do anything for the kid. At least Law has a good head on his shoulder and knows when enough is enough," another said.

"Bekky-yoi," Marco called out from right behind him with Luffy holding his hand.

"Yes, Commander?" Bekky replied, tilting his head back to see his commander, with a mug held up towards him.

"Luffy wants to go explore the forest tomorrow. You're going with him-yoi."

"I don't need Bekky to go with me. I wanna go with my new friends," Luffy pouted at Marco, pointing at the girls.

"Wait!" the three girls said, ashamed of themselves. After hearing how much Luffy meant to the Second Commanders and Law, they didn't want to do anything to harm the girl anymore.

"There are swamps and crocodiles in there," one said.

"And other predators," said another.

"And that's why Bekky is going-yoi. He's going to keep Luffy from getting too close to the crocodiles."

"Only the crocodile?" the female pirate asked, as the others snickered.

Marco turned a scowl at her. "Ace and Sabo doesn't want Luffy anywhere near crocodiles. I'm not about to deal with their utter stupidity if he gets eaten by one again-yoi." He then gave Luffy a stern look. "Got that Luffy? Leave the crocs to Bekky. If you promise me that, then you can explore the forest with your friends tomorrow."

"Got it," Luffy beamed. "Bekky gets to play with crocs, and I can play with everything else."

"Good-yoi," Marco ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. "And don't bring bring back anymore pets-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

"Thought you girls said the forest was safe," Bekky said suspiciously the next day, not wanting to bring it up during the party, lest Marco decides to toss them into the sea.

After not being about to think of a way out of it, the girls gave up and went to meet the two after lunch at the edge of the forest. They figured since Bekky is a Whitebeard Pirate, he'd be strong enough to save them from the dangers, otherwise, why would Marco insist that Bekky go with them. Or maybe they can try to talk them out of going.

"We lied," one muttered.

"Why?" Bekky sighed.

"Because we wanted to pick on her and leave you guys in the forest to be eaten by the animals in there."

"We're sorry," the three girls bowed.

Bekky scratched the back of his head, feeling uncomfortable with them bowing at him. "It wouldn't have worked anyway. We'd be out soon enough. I doubt that there's anything there strong enough to kill us."

"By the way," one girl asked as three of them looked around, "where's the princess?"

"Princess? Oh, Luffy. He's on his way with West." The girls remembered the man from last night. "There's no way I can handle an excited Luffy on my own."

Soon enough, West and Luffy showed up and they began their trek through the forest. They didn't give much thought to Luffy showing up in shorts and a t-shirt, thinking she was just wearing something more comfortable for a walk. Though the clothes did look a tad big to be safe wearing through the forest.

-*/-*/-*/

"Luffy, quit running off on your own."

"No, Luffy, we can't bring that bear with us. Marco said no pets."

"Luffy, don't go near that."

"Luffy, you can't eat that."

"Luffy, get off!"

"Oh, shit! West, you get Luffy!"

The girls watched in bewilderment as their few hour in the forest has been nothing but surprises. Right now, West is pulling Luffy out of a river, while Bekky attacks an alligator that was heading towards Luffy. Before that, they had witnessed Luffy having fun fighting a bear, two dears, chase after some rabbits and a family of foxes, ride a wild boar, and tried to eat some questionable looking berries. This has to be the most unprincess-like princess they've ever met. Not that they've ever met a princess before, but they were sure this isn't how a princess should be acting.

As the two older pirates dealt with the latest problem, the girls let out a scream as a lion came walking right up to them, with it's teeth bared. Seeing this, West quickly swam with Luffy in his arm and dumped the boy a safe distance away from the river and ran over with his sword pointed towards the lion. "Go over to Luffy and don't run off. I don't want to deal with looking for you girls later," West grunted as he caught the lion's huge paw with his sword.

The girls did as they were told and stood next to Luffy, who was seated where he was left and cheered for West, moving his fist about as if he were the one fighting the lion. "You got it, West! Right there! You almost had him! Yeah! There! There!" Luffy went on until West yelled at him to shut up.

By that time Bekky had joined them in watching West take down the Lion.

West laid on the ground panting and scowled when Bekky came over to help him up. "You ass. You could have helped."

"Nah. That wouldn't be fun, besides, think of it as training," Bekky laughed.

"And you," West shoved a finger at Luffy's forehead, who stopped with his hands up in the air wanting to give the man a hug, "could have taken that thing down with a single punch. Now I hurt everywhere," he whined. "Why don't you people understand I'm a normal person, not like you guys?"

"Don't be like that, buddy," Bekky patted the man's back. "You did pretty good. Just think, just a few years ago, you wouldn't have been able to fight that thing alone. Besides, Luffy knew you could do it. If he didn't, did you think I would sit back and watch."

"I hate you," West said with a smile.

"Come on, let's go back and have Thatch make Luffy his favorite snack," Bekky jerked a thumb towards the dead crocodile.

"Snack!" Luffy cheered as he got on top of the crocodile's back, waiting for someone to pull it.

"You can eat that?" one of the girls asked.

"Of course," Bekky smiled as he got the dead reptile ready to be pulled back, so Luffy can ride it. "It's Luffy's favorite. Luffy, stay right there and protect your snack. If you run off, who knows what might take away your tasty treat."

"Okay," Luffy said as he squinted his eyes and looked around for animals to scare off.

The girls laughed at the innocent act.

"As long as I've been around the kid, I still don't understand how the nutcase can be so cute," West shook his head in amusement at Luffy's antic.

-*/-*/-*/

The next day the girls found Luffy, wearing an outfit similar to what Sabo would wear, walking with a woman wearing a doctor's jacket.

"What are you doing today, Luffy?" one of the girls asked.

"I get to help Kobato today. We're going to do check ups and buy more yucky medicines," Luffy made a disgusted face.

"Can we help?"

"Oh, you don't have to," Kobato said. "Luffy, you can go play with your friends if you want."

"But I want to help," Luffy pouted.

"It's okay. We don't mind helping," a girl said.

They spent the day helping Kobato as she checked up on her patients from yesterday. They watched as Luffy did her best to help, only to mess up. No one could get mad at her as they knew she was trying her best to help. More than once, the three girls had to step in to help so nothing else would get broken or dropped.

The next few days were spent with them and Luffy either doing some shopping or helping another crew member do some errands.

-*/-*/-*/

The fifth day they went to look for Luffy in the afternoon, wanting to take her to their house for tea and to spend more time together. It was something to do until the Second Division returns. They looked around town first, thinking maybe Luffy would be out with some of the other pirates again. When they couldn't find her there, they went to where Moby Dick was anchored.

After asking around, they found themselves pointed towards Whitebeard.

"Good afternoon, sir. Is Luffy around?"

Whitebeard looked down to his lap. The girls had to climb on rock, with Whitebeard's help, next to the captain to see Luffy sleeping, curled up on his lap, still wearing what he wore yesterday.

"I don't think today's a good day. Would you like to spend time with me instead?" Whitebeard said with a smile before taking a sip from his large mug.

The girls took a seat on the rock to look out at the ocean.

There was a moment of peaceful quiet before it was broken by Whitebeard's question. "You do realize that Luffy is a boy, right?"

"Yeah, we kind of figured," one answered with a smile.

"And yet, you don't mind. What is it about this child that you want to spend so much time with him?" Whitebeard asked curiously. He'd always wondered what drew people to Luffy.

The girls looked at each other, ashamed at their first reason and came clean. "We didn't at first. We just wanted attention from Ace, Sabo, and Law and thought if we get rid of Luffy, they'd forget about her and pay attention to someone else."

"But after learning how much Luffy means to them, we couldn't do it. We wouldn't want them to hate us because we were selfish."

"The few days that we have spent with Luffy were fun. There was always something to do, and it was always exciting. He's fun to be with."

"I see," Whitebeard said quietly with a smile.

"What's wrong with Luffy?"

"He misses his brothers," Whitebeard answered. "They didn't call last night. So he's upset."

"Brothers?"

"Law, Ace, and Sabo are. Brothers, parents, I don't think there's a word to exactly describe what they are to this child. With the exception of the six months when he was taken from us, I don't think he remembers a day when he's been without Ace or Sabo in his life. But he's going to have to get used to it," Whitebeard sighed sadly. "He'll be leaving us one day, and those two won't be going with him."

"Then why does he have to leave? He can just stay with you guys."

Whitebeard laughed, causing Luffy to moan in his sleep and turned to get comfortable again. His grandpops rubbed the boy's back in apology. "His dream is to seek out the throne of the Pirate King. To do that, he has to travel with his own crew. Those two wants to go with him. I'm sure they do, but Luffy here has already decided that he'd find his own crew. He has a grand dream, one that I wish him and his future crew the best of luck to."

There was another moment of silence between them before it was broken again by Whitebeard. "Thank you for being his friends," he said softly. "It's not very often that he can make friends outside of his family."

-*/-*/-*/

And the next day, the found Luffy sleeping against a man they remembered to be from the Sixteenth Division, one of the doctors.

"Not a good day again?" a girl asked as she took a seat to get a good look at the boy on his lap.

The doctor shook his head. "They haven't called again. Maybe spending time with his friend will lift his spirit. Luffy," he shook the boy, dressed in a dress again. "Luffy, wake up. Your friends are here."

Luffy groggily woke up and rubbed his eyes. "'morning," he said as he yawned and stretched.

"It's already afternoon. You already had lunch," the doctor smiled at the boy.

"Oh," the boy said, still not fully awake.

"Luffy, would you like to come over to have tea with us at my house?" one of the girl asked.

Luffy looked to the doctor.

"I think it's a good idea. You should spend time with your friends. Maybe it'll take your mind off of things. You never know, they just might call tonight," the man said.

"Okay," Luffy sighed, looking to the ground, not at all happy.

"I hope you girls don't mind me joining you. I'm on Luffy duty today," the pirate doctor grinned.

As they were walking towards the housing area of the island, Luffy all of the sudden pushed all three girls to the ground in a tangle of limbs and dress fabrics. Next thing the old doctor knew, Luffy wasn't where he should have been. Confused, but not panicking because if Luffy really was in trouble, there'd be a lot more noise, he turned his head around to look for the kid. He really didn't have to because soon enough, a loud, obnoxious sounding voice called out to anyone who cared to listen, which was everyone around.

"Give me all your money and valuables if you want this kid alive!" A large, round man demanded with a knife at Luffy's neck. "And a ship!"

The doctor brought a hand to his face. Why did this have to happen on the day he's on Luffy duty? "You might want to drop the kid if you know what's good for you," he suggested. "Luffy's not in a good mood."

"I don't care if the brat's in a good mood or not. Just give me what I asked for or -" the man was cut off by another voice.

"Why's Luffy not in a good mood?"

"Because you forgot to call the last couple of days," the doctor answered before turning around to face the blond who just spoke.

"Sabo! Ace! Trao!" Luffy yelled happily from his place in his kidnapper's arm, uncaring of the knife threatening him.

"Sorry about that," Ace rubbed the back of his neck, standing in between Law and Sabo. "I fell asleep and the Den Den Mushi fell into the ocean."

"We were about to call to warn you that the Captain got away, and we were chasing after him. Lo and behold, he came to the wrong island," Law smirked.

"Shut up! Don't you see I have a hostage? Just give me your money and the damn boat," the runaway Captain yelled.

"What hostage? If you're talking about Luffy, he's the worst hostage ever," Sabo grinned through his glare.

"If you're not going to take me seriously, then I'll take this girl with me. Who knows... she's young enough that she'd be able to entertain me for a long time," the man laughed loudly, taking a step back towards where he landed, which happens to be on the other side of the island. No wonder he didn't see Moby Dick.

"Huh? What's he say?" Luffy asked.

"He said he's going to make you hunt while he watch and do nothing. As a matter of fact, he's going to eat it right in front of you and not let you have any," Law said,, knowing which buttons to push. The sooner Luffy get out of this predicament, the sooner the two fire starters can let of some steam. Ace and Sabo looked like they were ready to burn down the entire island.

Luffy promptly bit the man's hand that was holding him up, leaned forward so that he landed on his hands, and stretched his body up long enough to kick the man hard on the chin. The boy then did a back flip to his feet, facing the round pirate on the ground looking dazed. "First you want to hurt my friends, then you want my food. You're worst than a chicken. I've seen chickens fight better than you."

"Those weren't chickens," both Ace and Sabo moaned in the background.

"Ace, Sabo, Trao! You're back!" Luffy cheered as he turned his back on the man on the ground to run to his brothers. He'll leave the kidnapper for Pops, who was now cracking his knuckles and standing over the poor pirate captain.

After reporting back to Whitebeard, the three brothers spent some time with Luffy and his new friends, much to the girls' delightbefore they had to leave that night. Before leaving, Law, Ace, and Sabo thanked the girls for keeping Luffy company and for being his friends, causing the girls to blush brightly.

"Do you want to come with us?" Luffy asked before they boarded the ship.

"No," the girls shook their heads, thinking of Ace's and Sabo's reaction to meeting their family for tea. The girls weren't as surprised as they thought they would be after being around Luffy for a few days. Ace and Sabo were surprised as to how warm their parents were. "We already have a family here."

-*/-*/-*/

Half a year later, Ace, Sabo, and Law found Luffy sitting on the figure head, wearing one of Sabo's old clothes, looking at the sea in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Sabo asked.

"It better not be something stupid again," Ace sighed as he scratched the back of his head, readying himself for that something stupid.

Luffy stayed silent for a few moment before turning around to face his brothers. "I think it's time."

"Time for what, Lu-ya," Law asked.

"To set off on my own and gather my own crew to find One Piece," the boy laughed at the shocked faces of Ace and Sabo.

Law merely nodded. "I'm doing the same then. That way we can start at the same time."

"It's too soon!" the two fire brothers exclaimed.

"I already talked to Grandpops about it. He said it was okay," Luffy gave him a huge smile. "I'm ready. I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" He yelled for the whole world to hear.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry this took so long. I got caught up playing tour guide for family that decided to visit from out of country.

And this is the last chapter. I'll be putting up the Epilogue and Omakes when I finish them. ^_^ Please bear with me as it may take me time to put those up. I have busy schedule this month.

Thank you all for taking your time to review. It means so much to me to hear from you guys about this story, even the few non-English ones that I had to use Google translate to read. ^_^v Thank you!


	29. Alternate Chapter 27

**Chapter 27 (Alternate)**

 **A/N:** Sorry. After I posted the other Chapter 27, I couldn't decide which ending I liked better. I'm going to let you decide. T_T

 _Just because the past  
didn't turn out like you  
wanted to, doesn't mean  
your future can't be better  
_ _than youve ever imagined._

 _-unknown_

And now, he was on an island, walking with Ace, Sabo, and Law, where the two Division Two Commanders had to dispose of a nuisance on the other side of the island. They were waiting for the rest of their division to finish preparation before joining them. Once the call came, they led Luffy to a pub where he was to wait for them. Luffy had wanted to join them, but he was under strict order to let his brothers do their missions themselves. Law was only going with them to give them medical back up to give him experience of working alone without Division Sixteen's help.

"Will you be all right by yourself, Lu?" Ace asked worriedly as Luffy took a seat at the bar and ordered a glass of juice.

"I'll be fine," Luffy laughed at his brothers' worries. "It's a little weird to not know where everyone is, but I'm fine."

That was what worried the three of them about leaving Luffy alone on the island. They wanted him to stay on the ship with Pops, but the dress wearing teen was already sick and tired of being confined on the ship and wanted to be on land, however brief. During their walk through town, Luffy had ran into people, not knowing they were there, which had never happened before. Usually he would just maneuver himself out of the way without even looking where he was going.

"We'll be quick, I promise," Sabo said, looking anxious.

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we come back," Law informed them.

"Maybe we should call Marco to keep you company," Ace suggested.

"I'm fine," Luffy giggled. "Nothing's going to happen. I'm just sitting here and waiting for you. I promise not to cause any problems."

After they were a good distance away, Ace brought out his den den mushi. "I'm calling Marco," he said to Law and Sabo.

In the bar just five minutes after the trio left Luffy to himself, he was approached by a group of three girls from behind. He was too busy enjoying his nice cool glass of juice, kicking his legs back and forth from the bar stool that he didn't notice them.

"Hey, you," he turned himself to the girls with his glass of juice in both hands, looking confused at their scowls. He doesn't recognize them, so he wasn't sure what he did to them to cause those looks sent his way. "Who do you think you are?"

"Hmm?" he tilted his head.

The girls crossed their arms at his innocent owlish blink. "Well?"

They were in plain, casual dresses, and anyone could see they were beautiful, but he still doesn't recall ever meeting them before. He shrugged and turned himself back to the bar, wanting to ignore them in hopes they just leave him alone. His brothers would get mad at him if trouble starts.

"Don't ignore us!" one of the girls shoved his shoulder, causing him to spill his drink a little onto the counter.

The bartender who saw the whole thing, turned to them, while wiping a glass dry, to caution them, "I wouldn't mess with her if I were you."

They didn't heed his warning and continued to get Luffy's attention. After giving his spilt drink a forlorn look, he finally turned back around to give the girls his attention. It really sucked that today had to be the day that his Observation Haki decided to disappear on him.

It would have helped right now if he had some sort of indication as to why they were bothering him. It would also help to know how hard he could hit them without accidently killing them. No wait. He promised he wouldn't get himself into any trouble. Oh, and Sabo would get mad at him if he hits them. Sabo says it's not nice to hit girls.

The girls huffed after getting a better look at him. "I can't believe you think you're good enough to hang around the Whitebeards. You're just a cute face with a pretty dress. I bet that's how you lured Commander Ace and Sabo to hang around you."

"She's so scrawny, I bet she can't even fight. Playing the defenseless girl card just to get them to protect her," another huffed.

Luffy tilted his head, not really sure what was going on. He continued to watch them say things to him, not really listening, only turning around once to ask for another glass of juice. It was when he turned around the second time to ask for an apple that one of the girl had enough of him not responding to anything they were saying to him.

"Are you even listening to us?" She knocked his glass out of his hand, and he watched as it made a mess on the floor.

"Opps," he said before turning to the bartender. "Hey, mister, can I borrow your broom and mop?"

The man simply nodded and walked to the back room to retrieve the cleaning supplies. He couldn't say he didn't warn the girls. If anything happens to them, it's their own fault.

A few of the remaining nervous guests that hasn't left yet hurried to finish their meal. The few that came in after Luffy didn't know who he/she was and continued to watch on. Everyone there knew who those other three girls were. They were fairly well known on the island as the most beautiful. Many men could only dream of marrying them.

This was a normal occurrence when someone they think threaten their popularity came to town. They would always send their 'competition' away crying and never showing their face again.

"Heya, chibi," someone walked up from behind Luffy, who was crouched down to pick up the larger pieces of glass. The voice startled the teen, causing him to fall forward and land his hands on the shards of glass. "That's the first anyone has ever surprised you from behind, but then again, I guess this is the first time you've ever had to walk around not knowing who's around you, huh?"

Luffy turned his head to see West grinning at him. "West!" he cheered with his hands in the air. The teen then tilted his had in confusion when West grabbed his hand.

"Crap, Lu," he said worriedly as the bartender walked around the bar with the broom and mop. "Hey, old man, could you bandage him please? I'll clean this up. Geez, Lu, what did you do? Throw your drink on the ground?"

The three girls looked at each other and shrugged. There was nothing this guy could do to them anyway. He'd just be taken in by their charms like everyone else.

"It fell."

"I can see that, you shrimp," West scowled at him. Once he finished and returned the cleaning supplies back to the older man, West took a seat on the stool next to Luffy. The kid had been eerily quiet the whole time. "Ace called Marco, you know. He said you'd be lonely and wanted someone to stay with you."

Luffy gave him a small smile as he took a sip from a new glass of juice. "Ace and Sabo knows everything."

West laughed and ruffled the teen's hair. "Of course they do, just like any good parent would. So, why are you lonely? You have these beautiful young ladies here to keep you company." He gave the girls a wink.

"I don't know where they are. I don't know where anyone is and if they're okay or not," Luffy frowned. "I don't like it. I don't know how you guys do it. They," he waved at the girls behind him without even looking at them, "were talking to me, but it got boring."

"And you stopped listening," West grinned at the boy's habit of tuning things out that weren't of interested.

"They kept saying stuff and talking about Trao, Ace, and Sabo, but I didn't understand any of it," Luffy pouted and brightened up at the apple the bartender handed him.

"Lu, that's not nice. They were kind enough to keep you company while you waited. You should apologize," the older pirate grinned. He had an inkling of what happened. It wouldn't be the first time the older boys had a following of girls. They were very good looking and were at the age where they should be interested in the opposite sex. It's too bad that all four of them weren't interested.

Luffy sent him a scowl before turning around on his stool, this time leaving his drink on the counter top and lowered his head slightly, "Forgive my earlier conduct. I had not intend for my behavior to disrespect you in anyway. Please accept my deeply sincere apology."

West nearly laughed but managed to keep a straight face. Everyone on Moby thought it was hilarious that Sabo was teaching Luffy manners that would rival that of royalty, while he only taught Ace the basics.

This had the girls gaping. This was completely different than how the girl before them was speaking earlier. She was now speaking on a level that goes beyond the simple frilled dress. It was like she should be wearing something much more luxurious.

Luffy was now looking at them with bored curiosity as to why they were looking at him like that and why they weren't saying anything back. Maybe he said something wrong. He'll have to ask Sabo later.

They girls knew they had to say something back in return, but before any one of them could, the door banged opened to reveal a man with a large pompadour with his hands propped on each side of the door, panting.

"Princess!" Thatch cried out and ran over to the other two pirates once he saw them.

West couldn't keep in the laugh now that Thatch had placed the misunderstanding into the girls' minds.

"I heard you were lonely," Thatch said as he slung an arm over Luffy's shoulder, "but don't you fear, Thatchy is here. Oh and Marco said he's coming after he finishes whatever it is he's doing. Though you could have just stayed on the ship with the rest of us if you were going to get lonely."

Luffy looked down on his hands on his lap and chewed his lips. "I wanted to be brave. I didn't know it'd be this scary."

"Princess, dear," West laughed even harder, causing Thatch to raise his eyebrow at the First Division member, "you are the bravest person I know. Kinda makes me wonder how you managed Dressrosa for half a year. I mean, you were so far away from everyone. Unless you could feel us from that far?"

"No," the teen shook his head, "but I knew that Ace and Sabo were safe. I didn't know where they were, but I could feel that they were safe."

"Don't worry," Thatch placed the straw hat that had been decorated with flowers on the boy's head, "you'll be back to normal in no time. Just trust those morons. They can take care of themselves. There is a reason why Pops asked to them to be commanders, you know. Now, who are these lovely ladies?"

"Don't know."

"They've been keeping the princess company in hopes of meeting her knights in flaming armor," West said as he gasped for air.

"Oh?" Thatch leered at the girls. "So what are you interested in? The muscles? The gentlemanly look? Or is it the handsomely mysterious one?"

Once again the gaping girls didn't get a chance to answer when the door opened once more to reveal Marco and a few other crew members. "Sorry, Luffy. It'll be a little longer before those idiots and their group returns," he heaved a long suffering sigh. "It seems there was a mishap."

Luffy tensed and was about ready to jump off his stool to go save his brothers when Marco pushed him back down on his seat.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. The flaming idiots accidentally set the whole town on fire and have to stay to clean up their mess. While the other sucker has to stay and tend the bystanders."

"I bet they were in a hurry to get back to you, kid," Thatch said. "Say, are you hungry? I can whip up something for you while we wait. No offence, old man," he said to the bartender, "the little one is on a strict diet for health reason."

"None taken. You have free reign of my kitchen. Right this way," the older man smiled at the head cook. "I'd be more than happy to offer you my help for the little lady and the rest of her friends."

"Bekky!" Luffy cheered when the man walked.

"Hiya, squirt," Bekky said as he placed the boy on Marco's lap so he could sit between his commander and his best friend. "We all heard you were lonely so we came to keep your company."

Soon after the three girls found themselves dragged over to a table by a female pirate of the first division. "You shouldn't just stand there. Join us. If any of the guys here try anything funny, just tell me, and I'll put them in their place for you." She gave them a wink.

"So what are you girls doing in here? Were you with someone? Seems everyone just upped and left as soon as Commander Marco walked in," one of the men at the table laughed.

"We – we – _is she really a princess?!_ " one of the girl hissed quietly, pointing to Luffy.

"Oh, you're interested in our Luffykins?" the female pirate asked before leering at the three girls. "Or maybe its her knights you're interested in. If so, give it up. Those three aren't interested in anyone but their precious Luffy." She waved the idea off.

"Princess? Well, in a way she is," another man said. "I mean, she does have the connections to bring enough manpower to take down a whole kingdom."

"Just wait until she sits on the throne," another laughed. "Imagine how much power she'd have." Then everyone at the table went silent as they thought on it.

Then the female pirate laughed. "Little Lu already has that, plus some. Those four took down a Shichibukai on their own."

"Four? Don't you mean three?" one of the girls asked.

"No. It was defiantly four."

"Don't let the kid fool you. May look like a shrimp, but Luffy was the one who turned the whole stone castle into rubbles with one punch."

"That princess?" The girls turned to see Luffy sitting on Marco's lap, stuffing his face with food that looks good enough to feed royalty.

"Princess?" Thatch said as he came over to their table with plates of food for them. "Oh, Princess Luffy." He grinned. "You interested in her story?"

"I am," answered the female pirate. "You guys never told me how you ended up with four kids on the ship."

"Well, it started of once upon a time," Thatch started theatrically, "in a far off kingdom. The King had a child, a beautiful princess, whom the whole kingdom adored. One day the princess was kidnapped by an evil, evil man and was never to be seen again. The king searched and searched, he poured all his resources into finding his beautiful princess. He even went against the World Government's order to stop his search and to go back to his kingdom. Unbeknownst to the evil man, his plan was thwarted by two adorable little knights who vowed to protect the princess, who they didn't know was a princess at the time. They whisked her away and the three of them was soon picked up by Pops. The king rejoiced after finding out his daughter was under the care of the strongest man in the sea and asked for us to keep her there until she is strong enough to protect herself. And there, they lived happily ever after. The end."

There was silence at the table as the pirates glared at Thatch's story.

"You forgot Law," someone pointed out.

"Uh," Thatch scratched his head at that. "Truthfully, I have no idea how he joined. There was this party, and Luffy destroyed the kitchen, and the next thing I know, he was there helping with the repairs. I don't know. He just randomly showed up. I heard Luffy picked up him. Kinda like you," he pointed to the only female pirate at their table.

She laughed at him. "I don't think it's the same, Commander. I mean, really. I can't see Law trying to pickpocket Sabo in broad daylight." She turned to tell the girls, "Luffy caught me red-handed and dragged me to Whitebeard. Scared the living daylights out of me. Thought this huge scary captain was going to feed me to the sea kings. You know what Luffy said to Whitebeard? He said, 'She's coming with us,' and just left me there with Pops, who was laughing his head off. I just ended up staying because I had nowhere else to go. I had no money, no food, no house, and now I'm happy."

A man sitting next her slung an arm around her shoulder and brought her into a lopsided hug. "And we're happy to have you."

"You know, it's not just the Idiot Trio that Lu's worried about. He's worried about everyone out there. You maybe our newest member, but he considers you family too," Thatch said. "The kid knows if you're good or not. He knew you were a good person, even though you tried to steal Sabo's money. That's why he thought you'd fit right in with the rest of us. You're not the first stray he picked up. Law was just the first of many. You've probably heard the rumors, but they're true, you know. He can read the hearts of people, well, when his haki is working anyway. Right now, he needs us to make as much happy noise as we can make until Division Two returns in good health."

"Luffy?" Everyone in the bar turned to Marco's panic voice. Luffy was in Marco's arm, not looking well. "Luffy! Someone call Kobato and Izo. I want both of them here right now!"

Thatch rushed right over to them. "What happened? Was it something I made?"

"No. I think he ate this," Bekky pointed with a shaking finger to a half finished plate of meat that was sitting near one of Luffy's many plates. "I don't think we even started on it yet." He turned a questioning look to his best friend, who shook his head.

"He probably thought it was one of his," West said worriedly.

"What do we do?" Marco looked to Thatch.

"Kobato has something back at the ship, but I think she's out buying supplies," Thatch rubbed the back of his neck in worry. "Maybe we should put him on the ground. Less mess if he hurls."

The movement caused Luffy's stomach to roll. "Tummy don't feel good," he moaned. He then puked the moment Marco sat on the floor with him still on his lap, the mess landing down the front of his dress.

"Thatch?" Marco looked down on Luffy in worry. "Is having that much blood come out normal?"

"No, of course not! Oh my god! What do we do?" Thatch asked looking around at everyone in panic, his hands now in his hair.

"Izo's on the way with his meds. Kobato is on her way. She should be here soon." As soon as the words left the pirate's mouth, the door slammed open with the female doctor looking like something had chased her.

"Move out of the way," she pushed Thatch off to the side and crouched down to check on Luffy.

Marco explained what happened, while everyone else quietly watched on in concern. His and Thatch's eyes widen at the familiar heavy feeling. "How much longer until Izo gets here?" Marco demanded. "His haki is returning, and I don't think he'll be able to control it while in this much pain."

"Keep your pants on," a voice panting from a den den mushi Kobato placed on the floor next to her said. "I'm on my way and going as fast as I can."

"I'll do what I can to help him until Commander Izo gets here. For now, this dress has to go," Kobato said.

Instead of turning Luffy around to get at the zipper and risk having the movement upset his stomach anymore, Thatch cut the dress open down the front with his sword. Kobato carefully took off the dress, as Marco held the boy as steady as he could, leaving him only in his long shorts.

Luffy curled up into himself and started panting as if in excruciating pain.

"I think he's trying to suppress his haki," Thatch observed in awe. "Poor kid is still thinking of everyone."

"Luffy," Kobato said sternly, "you're just hurting yourself more. Everyone's already on the ground and ready," the pirates took that as a cue and placed themselves on the ground to avoid getting hurt from falling. The three girls looked on in confusion. "Just let go. Izo will be here soon. Please don't hurt yourself anymore. What's Ace and Sabo going to think if they see you hurting yourself like that?"

Luffy squinted his eyes open to look at her and whimpered but did as she said. Marco could feel when the muscles of the boy in his lap relaxed, and a warm pressure passed over him. Thatch caught Kobato before she could land on her patient.

"How is he doing?" Izo asked over the den den mushi.

"Looks better now that he's released the pent up haki," Thatch answered, picking up the den den mushi to inspect. "How is this thing still awake?"

"Sabo made it with the help from Law," Marco said, looking down on his lap to see Luffy's breathing had calmed, though the boy was still pale and slightly shaking. "Ace noticed how all the den den mushi fell asleep when Luffy's haki was unstable. He mentioned how inconvenient it would be if he need to call for backup and someone let out Conqueror's Haki. So Sabo used Law's medical and haki know-how, and this is their prototype. They gave it to Kobato since she'd be dealing with Luffy the most. They're already working on a few of the real thing."

Thatch whistled, "Smart."

"Izo," Luffy whined softly, "come back."

"Shit. I just ran passed the place." A second later Izo ran in, out of breath and looking disheveled.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Thatch teased with a lopsided grin.

"Shut up," Izo said as he walked in, swiping one of his many stray hairs out of his face, and set his things off to the side of Luffy. "Clean water, clean towels, a bucket, mop, and if possible, something he can lay on comfortably," he ordered.

Marco looked baffled as a half dozen men near the walls got up to gather the requested items. He turned his head to the giggling female pirate.

"I've never seen Commander Marco this out of sort. You always look so poise and all-knowing. Not once have I ever seen him panic," she said as she got off the floor to take her seat.

Thatch laughed. "You should have seen him when the kids were younger, when we first found them. He was way worst back then. What you see now is tame after Law joined to help Ace and Sabo keep Luffy out of trouble."

"You knew they were awake?" Marco scowled at Thatch.

"You would too, if you'd just pay attention. The kid didn't let out that much, nor was it strong. I mean, look," he pointed to the three girls, "they're still standing. If my hunch is right, the rest should be up in a few minutes."

"They're going to kill us," Bekky moaned from his seat once Luffy was settled and everyone had woken up.

"We're going to be decapitated and be forced to watch our bodies burn," West said with his head in his arms on the bar.

"But it's not your fault," Luffy said weakly, with his head on Marco's shoulder.

"It doesn't matter," Bekky gave him a lopsided grin. "All your family are pretty unreasonable when it comes you."

"But those three are the worst!" West wailed. "They've been that way since the first day I joined. They tried to kill me for wanting to play with you."

"It's okay," Luffy smiled at them. "Those three pretty ladies will distract them."

The two pirates looked over to the three girls, who were staring at the boy. "Lu," Bekky sighed dejectedly. "There's no way pretty girls are going to distract Law, Ace, or Sabo from killing us."

"It's okay. I'll tell them good things about them. I'll protect you," Luffy giggled. "They're almost here."

"Everything's back in working order, then?" Marco asked.

"Yup. All better. I like it this way," Luffy smiled as he snuggled into Marco's chest.

"E-excuse us," Marco turned on his stool for him and the boy on his lap to see the three nervous looking girls.

"Yes?" Marco said.

"Is-is-uh, the little prince feeling better?" one of them stuttered as they all looked to the floor in embarrassment.

"Prince?" Marco narrowed his eyes at them. "Who told you that?"

"They," a girl pointed to the table they were sitting at, "told us he was a princess at first, then explained that the prince had to dress as a girl to hide from the government."

"And he," another girl pointed to Thatch, who was grinning from behind the counter, helping the bartender wash the dishes, "told us how he ended with you guys."

"Whatever story Thatch told you guys is mostly likely a lie," Ace grinned as he and the rest of his division came into the bar, covered in soot.

"We're back, Luffy!" Sabo sang as he, Ace, and Law went directly to their youngest brother, while everyone took a seat at the tables to eat what's left.

"Oh?" the female pirate asked. "So how did you boys join Pops then?"

"Easy," Ace grinned.

"We kidnapped Marco," Sabo also grinned.

"Then we were kidnapped by this very big a scary looking pirate," Luffy held his arms wide open to show how big and scary Whitebeard was.

"And then the shitty old geezer came,"

"And punched us,"

"And told us to stay,"

"On a pirate ship with over a thousand scary pirates,"

"We were only ten," Ace and Sabo alternated in telling their story.

"Grandpa's funny," Luffy laughed.

"That's nice all, but what happened?" Law saw how Luffy was leaning into Marco.

"Before either one of you get mad at us," Bekky said hastily, gaining their attention, "It was an accident."

"What was an accident?" Sabo gave him a smile, while his eyes were telling them they better be careful what they say.

"One of their plates was too close to Luffy's spread, and he ate some of it because the idiot wasn't paying attention," Marco explained tiredly.

"I see," Law said as the three of them took a menacing step towards Bekky and West.

"Hey, hey," Luffy called out to Law, Ace, and Sabo, "These pretty ladies been waiting to meet you guys."

The three girls smiled beautifully for them, thinking this was their chance.

"Yeah? And?" Ace only gave them a glance before looking back to the two pirates that needs punishing. "We'll deal with them after we roast these guys."

"After they're decapitated," Law added as he unsheathed his sword.

"But, Trao," Luffy whined.

"Not now, Lu," Law said.

"But they broke my cup of juice," he whined and held out his bandaged hand and looked towards the bartender, who nodded in confirmation.

All three turned to face the girls who flinched at the scowls. "Intentionally?" Ace and Sabo both asked.

"Uh-huh, because I wasn't listening. I didn't hurt them though because Sabo said not to hit girls," Luffy sniffled a little. "It hurted."

"Aww, Luffy," Sabo said softly as he patted his baby brother's hair. "I meant you shouldn't hurt girls who didn't do anything to you. Of course if they hurt you, you should hurt them back, ten times more than they hurt you."

"Bu-but they - "

"No excuse," Law said and pointed his sword at them.

Thinking they've overstayed their welcome, the girls turned to run out of the bar, only to be blocked by a fiery Ace and Sabo.

"Any plans on what you want to do?" Marco asked. "Luffy likes this place."

Said boy nodded as he watched his brothers in interest.

"Che!" Ace and Sabo folded their arms and dispelled their flames.

Law looked thoughtful for a few moments. "I'd like to test something with my fruit power. A test subject or three would be welcomed. And Izo's input."

"Sure, but we're not taking them with us," Izo said as he got up from his seat to walk over to them. "Come on. Let's get this done and over with, so we can go home."

"It's already dark out," Law pointed out.

"Oh. In the morning then."

-*/-*/-*/

It took only another month before his haki was back to the way it was and life on Moby Dick was back to normal.

A year later, Ace, Sabo, and Law found Luffy sitting on the figure head, wearing one of Sabo's old clothes, looking at the sea in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Sabo asked.

"It better not be something stupid again," Ace sighed as he scratched the back of his head, readying himself for something stupid.

Luffy stayed silent for a few moment before turning around to face his brothers. "I think it's time."

"Time for what, Lu," Law asked.

"To set off on my own and gather my own crew to find One Piece," the boy laughed at the shocked faces of Ace and Sabo. Law merely nodded in agreement.

"I'm doing the same then. That way we can start at the same time."

"It's too soon!" the two fire brothers exclaimed.

"I already talked to Pops about it. He said it was okay," Luffy gave him a huge smile. "I'm ready. I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** So which Chapter 27 did you like better? And if the alternate is better, do you think I should leave Luffy with his tummy problem in the sequel? Let me know~


	30. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

 _Today is a new day, don't  
let the lows of yesterday  
prevent you from enjoying  
the highs of today._

 _\- unknown_

Moby Dick came to a slow stop at a snowy island where they were greeted with armed men, pointing their guns and other variety of weapons at the people of the large ship.

Marco, who was at the rail of the ship, raised both of his hands in surrender. "We're not here to do any harm-yoi. We heard that you have the best doctors here on Drum Island. Would it be all right if we see your doctors-yoi?"

A large man in front of the group raised his hand to signal for the others to put down their weapons, but before he could reply back there was a commotion from the ship.

"Yahoo!" someone shouted and the person just threw themselves off the ship and into a pile of snow, only to land head first on the boulder under it. The impact caused the tree next to it to shudder and let loose a huge pile of snow on top of the person.

"LUFFY!" Ace and Sabo ran to look over the rail before jumping off.

"IT'S COLD!" the person jumped up, uninjured, and wrapped his arms around himself to ward off the cold. The people of the island could only look in bewilderment as a boy looking no older than thirteen wearing only a thin sleeveless vest and long shorts jump out of the pile to complain about the cold instead of the being knocked out by the fall.

"Luffy's cold!" someone on the ship shouted. Seconds later, several thick coats were tossed down, followed by a pair of long sweatpants.

Marco could only sigh at the idiocy of his siblings when they offered their own comfort of warmth, rather than going to grab something they weren't already wearing. Why did Law have to leave them so soon? Couldn't he have waited until Luffy leaves first, instead of just hopping off at some random island? At least he would have been reasonable enough to put the kid in warmer clothes before letting him loose.

"Thanks!" Luffy cheered as Ace and Sabo helped him put on one of the coat and the pants. "Let's go explore!" And he took off before either one of his brothers could stop him.

The group of armed men looked back at the crew atop the ship after hearing Whitebeard's laughter and Marco's groans.

"Before the doctors-yoi, do you mind if we go get the kids back first?"

"About the doctors," the big man, who seemed like the leader of the group, "there is only one left on this island. She's more of a witch than a doctor though. She's all we have left. You are more than welcome to come on the island, as long as you promise not to harm anyone. Though, seeing as you are the Whitebeard Pirates, I don't think that would be a problem."

"Thank you. Henry, go get your commanders and Luffy since there aren't any doctors here," Marco said to the Second Division member watching from the ship, before turning back to the men in front of him. "Would we be able to procure some supplies here also-yoi?"

"I'm afraid we don't have enough supplies for a ship as large as yours," the man said. "I'm Dolton, by the way." He shook hands with Marco when the Commander jumped down from the ship.

"Marco. It's all right-yoi. We only need enough for a small ship."

Only ten minutes into assigning people to supply gathering, a lookout called out from the tallest mast, "Commander Marco," everyone could hear the dread in his voice, "you might want to go pick up your kids. They're terrorizing Henry and the towns people. They're in the next town over," the lookout pointed in the direction of where they were, not taking his eyes off his binocular.

Marco sighed and ran a hand down his face before addressing the armed crowd monitoring them, "Sorry. They're just kids. They mean no harm, usually," he muttered the last word quietly.

"You might want to hurry," the lookout said again. "Looks like Henry's down for the count, and Luffy's hitched a ride on a deer? And now all three of them are being chased by a scary looking lady, and I think she's throwing tiny sharp objects at them."

"Are they running or fighting back-yoi?" Marco asked with his arms transformed and ready to go.

"Running."

"Good," he said before taking off. Good, because the boys shouldn't be fighting with the towns people in the first place. There shouldn't be anyone strong enough for them to run away from this close to the beginning of Paradise. Unless, of course, it's an enemy. Either way, Marco needs to get there quickly before things escalate. Better safe than sorry, especially with the townsmen arming themselves against outsiders. He highly doubt any of them were actual fighters, with the exception of Dolton. Something must have happened to this island for this level of caution.

He finally found who he thinks is the lady chasing his kids, running into the mountain forest, swinging a bat around, cackling and yelling at the the boys in front of her to come back. As Marco flew closer, he could hear the boys screaming, that's right, _screaming_ obscenities, that loosely translated to 'keep the hell away from us' at the bat wielding woman. Ace and Sabo actually looked terrified at the thought of being caught by the crazy woman.

Looking a little further ahead, Marco spots Luffy laughing loudly as he rides the deer, that was weaving through the trees with expert ease, attempting to buck off it's passenger. Assessing which group seems to be in most danger, the First Division swooped down a few feet in front of the bucking deer.

As soon as the deer sees the large flaming bird descending, it skidded to a stop with a human-like shriek before hoping and turning tail towards the other three, who were running in their direction. There was no way in hell he's going to fight a flaming bird, especially one that big.

Marco was able to grab Luffy off the deer's back before the deer could make it too far and flew to where Ace and Sabo stopped.

"Pops!" they both greeted him once he tossed Luffy to Sabo and turned back to human form.

"Well, what do we have here?" the lady grinned, holding her bat over a shoulder. Now that Marco's gotten a closer look, it was an old woman dressed in clothes far too young for her. "What's the Phoenix doing this far from New World?"

"You know him, Doctorine?" a young voice asked. Marco looked down to see a tanuki-like animal hiding the wrong way behind her leg. He assumes it's the deer from earlier if the antlers were to mean anything.

The old woman looked down to answer the animal, "No, but this one's a big shot. His face is one just about everyone on Grand Line should know, either from fear or gratitude. Marco the Phoenix of the Whitebeard Pirates." She looked back up to Marco with a grin. "So which is it? If you want the secret to my youthfulness, I don't think you need it."

"Neither," Marco replied. "You have nothing to fear-yoi. I'm only here to stop these idiots from causing too much trouble. Our crew is only here to look for a doctor for this kid," he slammed his hand on Luffy's head to stop him from grabbing the animal, "only to find out there are none left-yoi."

The old lady studied the kid briefly before looking back at the commander with a frown, "There isn't a cure for stupid yet. Unless there's something else ailing him. I would have thought your large crew would have at least one or two decent doctors."

"Luffy's not stupid!" both Ace and Sabo defended.

"We do have doctors, a whole division of first-class doctors-yoi. No, the kid's looking to start his own crew, and we want to make sure he has a good doctor to sail with him. He insists that he gets his own and not one from our crew-yoi. We'd all feel better if one of our own, who knows his medical background, were to go with him," Marco sighed.

"Things happened, and it's now just me and my assistant here," the old lady placed a hand on the tanuki.

"Your assistant? That thing?" Ace asked, making a face of disbelief.

"I'm not a thing! I'm a reindeer, and my name is Tony Tony Chopper!" the little tanuki-like animal shouted at them, before hiding his head back behind Doctorine's leg.

"Anyway," Marco interjected before anyone could say anything else, still holding on to Luffy, "since there are no doctors for the kid to choose from, we're leaving-yoi. Come, boys."

"But Pops," Luffy whined, twisting and turning to get to the reindeer, "I want him on my crew."

"No, Luffy, he's still an assistant, not a full-fledged doctor-yoi."

"He may be my assistant, but he's just as good or better than any doctor you'll find anywhere," Doctorine grinned as she and Chopper walked behind the pirate group.

"See! He coming with me. He's a doctor and a really good one," Luffy nodded in agreement with himself.

"I'm not going with you!" Chopper yelled from his awkward hiding place. "Why would you want me anyway?" he added quietly.

"Why wouldn't I want you? You're a doctor, I need a doctor on my crew, and you're cool," Luffy waved his arms around as he's being dragged by his jacket collar by Marco.

"Because I'm not human. I'm a monster," Chopper transformed into what looks almost like a gorilla and roared at them in his best attempt to scare them. Instead, all it did was cause the three brothers to put their fingers up their nose and look bored.

"So?" Luffy said. "Namur's not human and Jinbe too, but I still like them. They're good people. And I know lots of monsters," he flicked the booger off his finger. "Pops is one. He's part bird," he pointed to Marco before pointing to Ace and Sabo. "And Ace and Sabo are made of fire. And I'm a monster too. I'm a good monster though. Thatch said so. I'm not a bad monster." He nodded his head as if everything was right in the world. "Oh, Pops, Ace, and Sabo are good monsters too. All the monsters at home are good. Especially Grandpops."

"You-you're not scared of me?" Chopper quickly shrunk back to normal size and hid behind Doctorine again. He looked up to see a soft smile on her face.

"I'm pretty sure there are no monster in the world that could scare these kids-yoi," Marco chuckled. "As a matter of fact, there isn't much that'll scare them, and they've been in both parts of Grand Line most of their lives. If we ever loose sight of them, all we have to do is look for the loudest place or wait for some poor building to explode, and that's where they are."

Doctorine barked out a laugh. "Figures it takes someone like you to pop these three demons into existence. That's right, I've read about you three in the papers. ASL, the Three Demon Children, is what they call you, right? Seems you brats like to wreck havoc everywhere you go."

"It's not like we ask for it," both Ace and Sabo moaned. "Trouble won't leave us alone."

"Demon?" Chopper squeaked, clutching tighter on Doctorine's pants.

"That's right," Ace said with an evil grin, lighting his shoulders and hands on fire. "We're demons, and we're going to eat -"

"Cut that out," Marco punched Ace's head. "You're scaring the poor kid-yoi. And these aren't really my kids. They sort of adopted me. It's a long story, and I don't feel like explaining-yoi."

"Pops! Pops! Look! What is that?" Luffy said, pointing towards the mountain.

"Looks like a white bear," said Ace.

"Or a giant rabbit," said Sabo.

"It looks tasty," Luffy said with drool coming down his chin. With that single thought in his mind, he lifts his arm to slide out of his jacket. Now that he's free from Marco, Luffy sprinted towards the bear/rabbit thing.

"Wait for us," Ace and Sabo called out before following.

The First Division Commander could only put his head in his hand and shake it.

"You might want to stop those boys. Lapans are very dangerous," Doctorine warned.

"They'll be fine-yoi," Marco said as he watched the three boys fight one each before continuing his walk towards the ship with the other two following, though Chopper kept himself behind the old woman.

Every few minutes, Doctorine would give another warning about the children fighting the Lapan, and each time Marco would dismiss it. His sons were strong enough to take care of themselves in Paradise, he was sure of it.

They were trained by the best. Ace and Sabo could now spar with Luffy evenly. Luffy's ability to use any physical move he's seen at least once flawlessly is because of the training he had to build up his muscles. Luffy was thrilled the day his two older brothers asked him to spar with them. At first he went easy on them, until they knocked him down and into the ground. The smile the boy gave after being pounded to the ground is one that Marco's going to miss.

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the sound of thunder from far away. Then it came again but louder. "What is that-yoi?" he asked when the sound didn't stop.

The three of them stopped to listen, then the ground beneath them started to shake. "It's an avalanche!" Chopper cried out as birds and deer ran passed them.

"My boys!" Marco cried out as he transformed and flew overhead to try and find his sons.

Chopper quickly transformed to his deer form and let Doctorine on his back before taking off in search of safety. They reached the village where Dolton and the pirates were. The avalanche isn't coming that way. It's going towards the other village where they were earlier.

"What's that noise? What happened, Dr. Kureha?" Dolton asked once the woman got off Chopper. He stayed in his deer form, still wary of the villagers after the last time, many years ago, when they chased him away and called him a monster.

"There's an avalanche," Doctorine answered as she dusted herself. "The Phoenix is out there searching for his brats." Once the noise subsided, she pointed to a group of armed villagers, "You, go to Bighorn. That's where the avalanche headed. They may need some helping hands. Bring the injured here to me. Chopper, go check on those brats." Once everyone did as they were commanded, she turned to face the pirates with critical eyes. "I don't suppose you have a working infirmary on that big ship of yours? We're going to need it. Go get it ready. Either bring them all out here or we're putting the patients on your ship. Everything I have is too far for anyone to reach in time."

"You must be the last doctor left on this island that we've heard about. My division and I will help treat the patients. We have enough beds for everyone. They can stay for as long as it takes for them to recuperate," Izo said before barking orders to his division.

-*/-*/-/

Soon the injured from Bighorn came in on wagons pulled by horses and were taken aboard the ship. There weren't as many as they had thought. The avalanche had only hit the outer part of the village. Kureha left all the work to the Whitebeard Pirates. She isn't going to do work for free, but these people obviously will. Besides, she's watched them work and deemed them competent enough.

She was on her way up to the deck when she heard the commotion from the island. Walking to the rail to see what was going on, she sees Chopper in his 'human' form carrying the smallest brat and the villagers throwing rocks and yelling at her assistant to get away. She was about to call out when Marco dropped down from the sky with the other two brats in front of Chopper.

"Stop this instant! He's helping my son-yoi, and if any one of you harmed a hair on his head, you'll see what real monsters looks like," Marco seethed with Ace and Sabo literally burning on either side of him.

"Chopper," Kureha called out calmly from the ship's rail, "bring the brat up here."

The reindeer-human hybrid did as he was told as quickly as he could, only because he was more afraid of the three pirates protecting him than the villagers at the moment. He followed Doctorine down to the infirmary, where there were several injured villagers. Luckily, most were just scrapes and bruises, while a few others were more serious where large things fell on them.

Luffy, on the other hand, was buried in the snow for what was a good twenty minutes. He's lucky to still be alive for the time being, Chopper thought to himself as he laid the boy down on an empty bed.

"Luffy!" a female doctor said as she rushed over to the bedside to check on the boy, only to be pushed aside by Kureha. "I'm his doctor," she said as she tried to get around the old woman.

"Let Chopper take care of him," Kureha said calmly with grin and a plan in her mind. She's going to have Chopper prove to them that he's just as good as any doctor.

"But-"

"It's fine-yoi," Marco said from the doorway with an anxious-looking Ace and Sabo. "He's a doctor too, and I want to see what he can do. Luffy wants him-yoi."

"Then all the more reason for him to fix our boy up," Izo said as he walks up to the group. "Kobato, I know you're worried about him, but look at the, uh, Chopper? He's already doing a great job."

They all watched as Chopper went to work, completely ignoring everyone else around him, determined to keep Luffy alive.

"By the way, Chopper," Chopper continued with his work but hummed in acknowledgment to Izo, "Luffy ate a Devil's Fruit. He's completely made of rubber."

"Right, rubber," Chopper replied distractedly but took in the information. "Rubber is brittle when cold." He stopped before inserting the IV in his hand and went on to ask for more blankets and warm wet towels from Kobato, who was acting as his nurse.

"I'm assuming your assistant has eaten a Devil's Fruit also," Marco said as he observed with the others.

"Hito-hito no Mi," Kureha said with a fond smile. "He's a deer with a blue nose, so his herd kicked him out for being different. The one day he found a fruit and ate it, not realizing what it was. When he found out he could transform, he tried to go down to the village in hopes of being accepted, but was chased out because he looked like a monster."

"And you picked him up," Kobato concluded.

The old woman laughed. "No. Why would I do that? Someone else did." She went on to tell them about the quack doctor, Hiluluk, and how she ended up taking in Chopper. "I think it's about time for him to leave the island and see the world. I think that young captain would do wonders in healing Chopper's heart. But he can't leave right yet. I still have a few more things to pound into that head of his," she said as she wiped a single tear from her eyes.

They all could tell she was fond of the reindeer, even with the rough way she spoke of him.

"Ace, Sabo," Kobato called out to the two boys fidgeting at the doorway, "come help warm your brother up. We don't have enough blankets." She then turned to Chopper to explain that Ace and Sabo's body temperature are higher than normal humans because of their Devil's Fruit.

Chopper moved out of their way after hooking up the IV to Luffy, so the brothers could lay on the bed on either side of him.

Now that they had Luffy settled, they asked the two older boys what happened.

"Well, you see, we were playing with these giant rabbit things," Ace started, hugging Luffy to keep the boy warm with Sabo on the other side.

"And the next thing we know, there was a whole pack of them jumping up and down on the snow and started an avalanche," Sabo continued.

"We got separated from Luffy when he ran off in a different direction."

"He saw a baby rabbit thing stuck in the snow and got him out,"

"and tossed him up in the air to avoid the avalanche,"

"but got caught in it himself instead."

"We didn't know where the snow took him."

"Luckily, Chopper came and sniffed him out," Sabo gave the small doctor a grateful smile, along with Ace.

"Thank you," they both said to him.

Chopper immediately blushed with a hoof behind his head wiggling this way and that way saying things like, "I'm not happy with your thanks at all, you bastards," causing those around him to laugh.

-*/-*/-*/

After everything was settled, Izo took Marco aside to his room to tell him what the villagers had told him after Marco went after the boys. A pirate that goes by the name of Blackbeard attacked the island. The pirate that attacked matched the description of Teach. Whitebeard had instructed everyone to be quiet about it, not wanting Luffy to know before he leaves.

Marco agreed that it'd be a good idea to leave Luffy in the dark. There's no point in worrying the boy before he leaves to find his own crew. He just hopes that Teach doesn't attack them or Luffy's new crew. Who knows what Luffy would do if he heared that Teach attacked his family again.

-*/-*/-*/

It only took a few hours before Luffy woke up. Before he even opened his eyes, he knew he was somewhere warm and safe. He didn't want to move yet, but his growling tummy told him it was time to eat. When he opened his eyes, he saw saw Ace and Sabo on each side of him like usual, but instead of their room underneath the ship, he was in the infirmary of Moby Dick.

"How are you feeling, Lu?" Sabo asked.

"Hungry," was the immediate response.

"Me too," Ace said. "Let's go get something to eat."

Just as the three of them sat up, Chopper stopped them. "Luffy can't move yet. He has to stay in bed at least for another day."

"But I'm hungry," Luffy whined. "And why can't I move? I can move just fine." He hoped off the bed just to prove it.

Chopper gave a cry of alarm. "I said you have to stay in bed. Someone will bring you food soon, so just stay still."

"No!"

"Maybe we should have told the poor doctor that Luffy's a fast healer," Izo said as he, Marco, Kureha, Kobato, Ace, and Sabo watched the small reindeer chase the boy around the now empty infirmary. Luckily, everyone else had been discharged already.

"I like him-yoi," Marco said as Chopper transformed and manhandled Luffy back onto the bed. "He knows how to handle Luffy."

"I like how he was able to quickly adapt to Luffy's Devil's Fruit," Izo said.

-*/-*/-*/

A few days later, after everyone had said their good-byes and good lucks and the trio left on their own ship, Kobato handed Chopper a thin file.

"This may come and handy when he picks you up in a few months. It's his past medical history," she told him before the Whitebeard Pirates too left. She and Izo had agreed that Luffy's future doctor would need to know a few things about him, but they didn't give him everything. Only the information they were sure would be needed in the future. There is no need for his new crew to know about things that are done and over with.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry for the long wait. I had lots of things going on and didn't have time to plan or type this out until recently. And sorry if it's not pretty. I just typed it up and didn't look over it.

I'm leaving both endings up, since I can't decide, and the vote was split. XD Oh wells. I'll try to work around it.

No more omake requests. I have eight to work on already and will have them up as soon as I can. ^_-

Happy New Years everyone!


	31. Omake 1

**Omake 1**

From **00-SilentObserver-13** : what happened to Vista and the others when Marco got through with them for the reading incident (Luffy reading Vista's porn book to Whitebeard and crew).

* * *

Whitebeard wasn't sure what he should do. Here he is, listening to his grandchild (oh, how wonderful the word) read to him. The little thirteen year old would do that sometimes, bring a book to read on his Grandpops's lap. The kid wasn't all that great a reading, still a little slow and stumbles over big words or words he's never come across before. Not to mention, having his grandson read to him is a big thing. He loves spending time with all of them. But right now, he is torn between listening to Luffy read to him or to stop him. He didn't have the heart to tell the boy to stop reading when Luffy looked so intent on reading for him.

Where did he even get his hands on this book anyway? Where are his other grandchildren when he needs them? And why are his sons out here listening? Don't they chores to do?

The crowd of his brothers standing around Pops's chair caught the attention of Vista, who had just came out of his room for some fresh air. He sees Luffy sitting on Whitebeard's lap with a book. The little teen seems to have the attention of everyone within hearing range with whatever he's reading. Curious, Vista walks a little closer, pushing his way in between the others to get closer to Pops.

A horrified look came across his face once he recognized the cover of the book in Little Luffy's hands. As quick as he could, he jumped up and tore the book out of the kid's hand and tossed the book overboard. Once the book was gone for good, Vista dusted his hands and gave Pops a quick greeting and walked off as if nothing happened.

Whitebeard is extremely grateful he didn't have to sit through Luffy reading that book anymore. He was starting to get warm and uncomfortable too close to where the kid was sitting. It'd be too embarrassing to explain to Luffy if something grew right in front of him. That made him wonder if the brat, or any of the brats for that matter, had been given the talk yet. He'll have to ask Marco when he gets back from his mission.

-*/-*/-*/

"Pops!" Luffy cheered before launching himself into Marco's arm when he returned home from his week-long mission. "Welcome back!"

"Glad to be back, squirt. Have you been good while we were gone-yoi?" Marco ruffled the boy's hair.

"Yup! I only fell in the waters two times," the teen said proudly on Marco's arm with two fingers up.

"Two is two too many times-yoi."

The boy ignored the reprimand and plowed on to update his Pops on what he'd missed while away. "And Trao is a meany. He tied me up and wouldn't let me help wash the bed stuffs."

"I don't blame him. We still haven't replaced the bed sheets for the infirmary you tore up yet-yoi."

"Marco."

"Yes, Pops?" The blond commander looked up to his captain.

"I need to see you in my room when you have time."

"Sure. Now is good-yoi." Marco handed Luffy over to Ace before following Whitebeard.

As soon as they got themselves comfortable, Whitebeard asked if the boys had the talk yet. They hadn't, so Marco suggested that Izo and Kobato could help with that since they're doctors and all that. It'd be easier and less embarrassing. Hopefully.

After talking to Izo and Kobato about it, Marco went out to find the kids. On his way onto the deck where he was sure the kids would be running around, he overheard a couple of his brothers talking. It was something about Luffy. Curious, Marco stopped them and asked them what they were talking about. They thought nothing of it and told the First Division Commander about yesterday's reading mishap.

Now, Marco needs to find Vista so he can kill him. And there he is.

"Vista, I need to speak to you-yoi," Marco said casually as he pulled the larger man away from whatever he was doing near the rails. "First, I need to get the four brats to the infirmary."

"Why? Are they alright?" Vista asked worriedly as he trailed behind Marco.

"They're fine-yoi," Marco waved off his brother's worry. He called out to the kids once he saw them. "I need you four to go to the infirmary-yoi. Izo and Kobato needs to talk to you."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other before shrugging, neither one knew why they had to go to see their doctors. Law, on the other hand, had an idea.

"Is this about Lu-ya reading Vista's erotic novel?"

Marco pretended not to notice Vista's cringe and showed no outward sign of ire towards the man and just nodded.

"What's that got to do with Luffy reading a dirty book?" Ace and Sabo asked.

"Do you boys understand what was going on in the book-yoi?"

"They were having sex," both Ace and Sabo said.

"What's sex?" Luffy asked with an unsuspecting smile. "Is it fun?"

"Sex is when a man and a woman make babies," Sabo answered. "But I still don't understand why we have to go see Izo and Kobato." He turned to look at Marco.

Marco smiled at the boy's innocent view of sex. "That's right and wrong. They're going to teach you things you need to know about sex, stranger danger, and how to avoid being taken advantage of-yoi, and Vista is going to join you."

"Do I have to too?" Law groaned with a blush. "I've already heard all this from Cora-san."

"Yes, you too-yoi."

"Why do I have to sit with them? Shouldn't it be you?" Vista asked with a fearful eyes.

"Because it was your book-yoi. Think of it as punishment. In addition to that, I'm putting you in charge the four of them for a month-yoi and helping them with their chores. In the meantime, I'm going to have a nice little talk with the rest of the crew," the Commander gave an uncharacteristic sadistic grin. There's going to be a ship-wide cleaning of unneeded things, things that should never make it to his kids' hands or eyes. It doesn't matter that they're all teenagers, they're still his kids, and he's going to protect their innocent views as much as he can. That means all dirty books, toys, and whatnots has to go.

"What?!" Ace and Sabo looked offended. "We don't need a babysitter anymore!"

"Your punishment for not stopping Luffy from reading smut-yoi."

"It was just a book! We don't even know what 'smut' is!" they both protested before being shoved into the infirmary where Izo and Kobato were waiting for them.

Vista sat in the furthest corner as the two doctors explained the birds and bees to the boys. He found it interesting when Law would blush every so often and looked just as uncomfortable as he felt. It got more amusing when the youngest trio would ask questions without batting a lash. There were some that would make him cringe and want to hide in a hole at how candid the boys were about the whole thing. They weren't embarrassed in the least.

Although, he did learn why he hasn't seen Marco visit a brothel in a while. Just the thought of the three brats barging in on him in the middle of doing it, made him swear off brothel for the time being. At least until he's forgotten this whole ordeal.

-*/-*/-*/

The month following were hell for Vista. He got roped into helping with chores he hadn't done in a very long time. It's been so long that Law had Luffy reteach Vista how to do things. It ended up with Vista having his head dunked into the toilet while cleaning the restrooms, hanging Luffy out to dry during laundry, being used as a pillow when Ace falls asleep in the crow's nest, fishing the trio out of the sea when Luffy falls over with the other two jumping in after him, and other things he doesn't even want to think about every again.

It's just too bad his siblings just have to remind him of that horrible day when the brats stole all of his clothes while he was in the bath, leaving him with nothing but a towel. They hung all his boxers up in the rigging to flap in the breeze for all to see. The rest of his clothes were worn by the brats themselves. He still couldn't believe Law went along with it. They'd all pegged Law as the sensible one of the group. Sadly, no. There he was, smirking along side Ace and Sabo.

Luffy stood next to them with a bright smile on his face, and that's when his dignity took a nose dive. The little brat just had to trip on the overly large pants and pull Vista's towel down with him. The kid looked up and gave him a wide-eyed look of awe, before screaming at the top of his lungs for his pops.

Of course, being the dutiful father figure that he was, Marco showed up not a half second later, looking for what had his youngest son to scream so loudly. "Luffy, what's wrong-yoi?"

The kid then proceeded to point at Vista's uncovered part and looked at Marco with a smile, "You should hide your family jewels like Vista. That way it won't get eaten again."

That was the reddest he'd ever seen Marco. Though Vista wasn't sure if it was of embarrassment or from anger towards him for still standing there uncovered. He's leaning towards anger, if that glare had anything to do with it.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry for taking so long. It's probably going to take me a while for the other omakes also. 2017 isn't starting off so good. :P


	32. Omake 2

**Omake 2**

 **KittyCCCC** : can you do a chapter on what Luffy's crew thinks of him? Like little Nami or Robin reading a newspaper on ASL and stuff?

 **A/N:** Just so you know, Luffy is a couple years younger than canon in my story.

* * *

East Blue: Shimotsuki Village

Koshiro leaned against a post at the entrance of his dojo as his #1 disciple gets ready to leave to make a name for himself. At the mere age of 16, there is nothing more the instructor could teach the teen.

"Zoro," he called out as the green-haired teen heft his bag over a shoulder, "be careful out there, and don't forget to contact me every once in a while." He's not going to bother asking the teen to visit. He'd get lost trying to find his way back.

Zoro turned to face the man and bowed deeply. "Thank you for everything," he said with a smile before leaving to pursue his and Kuina's dream.

Koshiro saw him off with a proud smile before sitting down on the steps to read the day's news. A slight frown appeared on his face about 30 minutes into reading. "Good thing Zoro isn't heading to Grand Line at this level," he muttered to himself. "It'd be too dangerous for him if children out there can take down an entire Marine base."

-*/-*/-*/

East Blue: Cocoyasi Village, Conomi Island

"Hey, Nami," Nojiko said from the lone kitchen table.

"Yeah?" Nami popped her head out of their shared room.

"Are you sure you want to go to Grand Line?" her sister asked as she laid the newspaper she was reading down.

"Eventually, not right now," the orange-haired 15-year-old walked towards the table with a small bag in hand. "Why?"

Her purple haired sister pointed at a wanted poster with a hand drawn ASL in between a pair of wings. "Seems there are children strong enough to take down a Marine base."

Nami merely huffed. "They're just children. By the time I actually can make it out there, the Marines would have caught them. If not...well, you know how the Marines are. Completely useless. Well, got to go. Just another 56,000,000 more belis before we're free."

"How many more years will that take?" Nojiko said quietly to herself, giving the closed door a sad look.

-*/-*/-*/

East Blue: Syrup Village, Gecko Islands

"Did you read today's news yet, Usopp?" Kaya asked the boy seated on the tree just outside her second story window. "The Marines put a bounty on three kids."

"Really?" the 14-year-old asked. "What for?"

"It said they destroyed a Marine Base out on Grand Line. They're being called Demons out for blood."

"Just a base?" Usopp waved it off. "Have I told you the time I took out a whole fleet of battleship? I was only six at the time. It was just me all alone, while my men stood by and watched," he bragged. He went on to tell his tales of heroics to his friend before he was shooed away by the butler.

At the time, he didn't spare another thought for the children of Grand Line.

-*/-*/-*/

Somewhere on the sea of East Blue: Baratie

Zeff looked over his open newspaper to watch his 16-year-old apprentice make a fish dish. Then he looked back to the newspaper. It says children, but it doesn't mention any age. To him, Sanji would qualify as a child. Would they be the same age as his Eggplant? Or were they younger? Not that it matters now, but it will in the future when Sanji decides to leave to find All Blue. In order to find All Blue, his Eggplant would have to sail all of Grand Line.

The former pirate then wonders when Sanji will leave and if the kid would be able to handle it out there. Eggplant is going to have to find himself a good captain in order to survive Grand Line.

Zeff slammed the newspaper down on the counter top after heaving a sigh. He'll think about it later when the kid's ready to leave. Right now, he has a fish to save. "Sanji! You're doing it all wrong!"

"What did I do wrong this time, Shitty Old Man?" the blond yelled back.

"Everything!"

-*/-*/-*/

Grand Line: Drum Island

It's been almost a year since 11-year-old Chopper studied under Kureha, and he's still afraid of her strange ways. Doctorine is nothing like Doctor, who was very caring and encouraging. Nonetheless, he's never been more afraid of her than now. Chopper goes to hide behind the door frame, unsuccessfully, much too afraid to go any closer to ask her a question.

The older woman is currently cackling at something in the newspaper.

The young apprentice decides that he'll just ask later, when Doctorine is less scary and sneaks away.

-*/-*/-*/

Some island on Grand Line

Nico Robin shook her head sadly as she read the news. She couldn't believe the Government actually put bounties on more children. While their bounty isn't as high as hers was, it was still a shocking amount for just children. Not that she has any room to worry about them, she only has time to worry for herself.

Jumping off the barrel, she ran deeper into the dark alley when some bounty hunters managed to find her and ducked into an abandoned building. Still, she wondered what the boys did to warrant a bounty. There's no point in believing everything in the newspaper. Her own bounty came from a lie from the World Government after all.

-*/-*/-*/

Grand Line: Water 7 (Franky House)

"Anekii, here's the newspaper," Mozu handed their blue-haired leader the rolled up paper.

Franky took it with a look of disgust. "Why should I care what's in the news?"

"It was in front of the door," Kiwi shrugged.

"Nothing in the news is important," Franky said as he stood up and got louder. "What is important is that I hit the jackpot last night! You know what that means?"

"Party!"

"SUPER!"

-*/-*/-*/

News coos do not fly through Florian Triangle. So, sadly, Brooks has nothing to read to alleviate his boredom.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry for the slow update. It may take me a while to finish the rest of the omakes and the sequel. My school shut down over winter break and things have been hectic. It was like "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, you no longer have a school to go to." There was a mass panic as my classmates and I tried to figure out where we're going from here. I'm now self-learning, and knowing that it'll be hard to teach myself, I'll be writing over the weekends when I have the time and spending more time doing what I need to get back to the working world. I have a dream, and I'm going to make it happen. I will get my dream job, no matter what!

But don't worry, I will finish the rest of the omakes up so I can label this as complete and put up the sequel eventually. I even have another story that's been bugging me to write for you~


	33. Omake 3

Omake 3

Bluejay Blaze: Ace, Sabo, and Law confronting the fanboy about his Luffy obsession

* * *

Law, Ace, and Sabo went up on deck after leaving Marco to watch over Luffy. As much as they wanted to stay, the three of them decided to inform Whitebeard what happened.

Shanks and Mihawk went back to the Red-Haired Pirates to check up on them and make sure they weren't to drunk to leave the island that night, and Thatch went to the kitchen to check over the menus for the boys with Kobato to make sure Luffy will be okay with it.

As soon as the three of them reached the deck, they were greeted with the sight of a group of people they recognized from the coliseum. In the lead is the freak that's way too obsessed with their Luffy, literally drooling as he gushed about their brother.

"Oh my God! I can't believe I'm on the ship that carries Luffy-sempai! This huge deck must be where Luffy-sempai trains. And this is where Luffy-sempai watches the sea! And this -"

"Actually, the open deck is where Luffy likes to run naked and trip people, and that's where Luffy likes to gets his ass tossed overboard so everyone else has to take a dip with him to save his soggy ass."

"Who dares to say such vulgar things about -" the mafia boss stared in shock once he turned around to the speaker.

"I dared," Ace said with his arms crossed, glaring at the group.

"Lu-Lu-Luffy-sempai's brothers!" the man melted to the ground in happiness.

"What are you lot doing on board?" Law asked the group.

"This is a rare chance to see the Whitebeard Pirate's ship up close without the threat of being killed or thrown over board," a man with two black eyes and super tall shoulders with boxing gloves on said condescendingly before relaxing his tone to add, "and to thank that kid. That shimp's got guts."

"I'd also like to thank you," the giant of the group nodded towards Ace. Even sitting on the ground next to Moby Dick, the giant still towered over the ship. "A few of us were the toys in the factory when you were fighting with Sugar."

"I only saved you guys because Luffy said to take this Sugar person out," Ace huffed and turned his head away before turning his head back to ask, "Everyone made it all right?"

"Of course we did," the blond with the fancy outfit said as he flipped his hair back. "I, myself, made a beautiful exit without a burn on my person."

"Right, whatever," said the boxing guy as he rolled his eyes. "Thankfully, we landed in water, so the fire didn't get us too bad. Those who could swim helped those who couldn't."

"And where is our savior?" a large man with a pointed head asked. "I'd also like to thank him for restoring my head."

"Luffy's resting," Sabo answered. "He's had a long day."

They all nodded, understanding that the day's even would be much for someone that young, though they thought he was much younger than he actually is.

"Can - can I ta-take a peek of Lu-Luffy-sempai's sleeping face?" the annoying man with green hair stuttered.

"NO!" the three brothers glared.

"You are to stay away from our Luffy," Sabo said.

"Far, far away, you creep," Ace cracked his knuckles.

"Cre-creep?"

Law drew his sword and pointed it at the creep. "That's right. Your stalker-like tendency is creepy, and we'd appreciate it if you would stay as far away as possible from our brother."

Bartolomeo took a couple of steps back with his hands up in front of him. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's not like I can follow him or anything. I don't plan on joining Whitebeard, and everyone knows not to mess with anyone from his crew. I'm just admiring Luffy-sempai. He's so cool and awesome! His fighting style is so graceful -"

Ace cut him off as he starts to babble and drool, "Yeah, well, we're telling you to stay away from him, even when he sets out on his own."

"Oh? So the brat's going to set off on his own one day?" the boxer grinned. "In that case, I can just tell him my thanks then, away from his overprotective family."

The old man with the pointed head laughed. "I didn't think a brat with that much potential would sail under anyone for long. Come along, Sai, Boo. We can give our thanks at a later time." The three of them left with the old man laughing.

Ace and Sabo ran to the railing to yell after them, even while everyone else followed Chinjao off the ship. "We were talking to all of you! Stay away from Luffy, you creeps!" They both turned around to see the green-haired man still there. "Especially, you!"

"You just had to open your big mouth," Law muttered.

"Luffy-sempai is going to sail as his own captain?" the mafia boss said with stars in his eyes. "Do you think you can get me his autograph?" he asked, completely unaware of the danger he's in.

Law shredded the poor mafia's clothes, leaving him in his boxer. Bartolomeo looked down at himself in shock before looking back up to see two streams of fire come towards him.

People off the ship, watched as a nearly naked man jumped off the huge ship, screaming as he runs away.

-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry for taking so long. It seems that when it rains, it pours. The keyboard on my laptop decided that it only wants to type G, so I had to buy a new one. At first I was just going to buy an external keyboard. It didn't work. So I decided to just buy a new laptop. My tablet already died a while back. That took a week of deciding before I actually bought it. Then it took another week to get it. So in actuality, this should have been posted two weeks ago. Sorry!

Again, thank you everyone for your reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm surprised that I'm still getting them. I'm so happy~


	34. Omake 4 & 5

**Omake 4 & 5**

00-SilentObserver-13: Shank's and his crew's reaction to luffy being taken by Mingo and another one about the scene with Ace and Sabo making the prisoner talk with their luffy enlightenment

* * *

The captain of the Red-Haired Pirates slowly, with a force calmness, set down the Den Den mushi. There was an eerie silence over the normally boisterous crew.

Not even a minute ago, the whole crew watched with growing anger as their captain and the people on the other end of the call got in a shouting match. At first their First Mate tried to calm their captain down, but as the conversation continued, Benn only stood by quietly, not even bothering to calm Shanks down any longer. He was in agreement with his captain this time. This isn't the time to be waiting on standby. They should be moving, doing _something_.

Benn knew that if Shanks had the power, he'd teleport them to where they need to be right this minute, but they are currently much too far to do anything this instance. It would take them months, depending on the weather, to get them to Dressrosa. He watched as his captain slowly turned to face his crew, with his head hung low before lifting it to show his simmering anger.

"Men," Shanks said with calm that was not normal on this man, "set course for Dressrosa, but we're stopping two islands away." He didn't bother to explain the reason for their sudden change of course. He knows they know. He's pretty sure anyone within a five-mile radius of them would have heard with how loud he was. "We have a kid to save."

The crew roared in agreement before rushing around to change their direction. Even if they had to wait for whatever it is they had to wait for, they're not going to sit around and just wait. They're going to do what they can to save the strange kid that brought joy to their ship during his and his brother's short stay with them.

"So we're just to somehow get in the marine's way and stall a few of their ships?" Benn asked quietly, watching the flurry of movements before them.

"It'll be too suspicious for two Emperors to show up just to save one kid," Shanks sighed dejectedly. "As much as I want to just storm that island as soon as I can, even I know how dangerous it would be for Luffy to have connections to us on top of being Whitebeard's. He hasn't even started his journey for Raftel yet."

Benn placed a comforting hand on his captain's shoulder, "It sounds like they have a plan. I'm sure the kid'll be all right. Don't forget that he's got a crew of over protective family, three of them are borderline possessive. I'm sure they want to be the ones to save him themselves. Makes me wonder what kind of plan they have. They're a crazy bunch like that."

Shanks gave him small grin, "Yeah, you're right. And I'm sure Luffy will be able to take care of himself until they get there."

Benn silently agreed, remembering the scare the kid gave him and his captain during his stay with them.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is some time before they met Law.

Jiru peeked into Marco's room, to find Ace and Sabo sitting on the bed reading, while Luffy was doodling at Marco's desk. Marco looked up tiredly to ask what he needed.

"Nothing from you," Jiru said, already feeling sorry for his brother. Even the speedy commander knew how tiring it can get baby sitting the boys on top of their own work. "I want to borrow the boys for a bit. I've got someone I want them to meet."

Marco turned around to look at the boys on his bed.

"Can Luffy stay so Pops don't get lonely?" the two older boys asked.

"Sure."

They both got up and followed Jiru, leaving Luffy to his doodling.

"Who are we meeting?" they asked as they walked to the Fourteenth Division Commander.

"I ran into a friend of mine during my mission. I was telling him about you guys, and I thought you could tell him about some of the things you've been up to. Luffy's not a good story teller, so maybe you can tell him about your brother too, just so he doesn't get left out." Jiru internally cackled as their eyes lit up.

"In that case, we'll meet you in your room," Sabo said as he turned around a couple of steps to open up a trap door.

"We're going to grab a few things," Ace said excitedly as he disappeared after his blond brother.

"Ok. Make sure to use the door, rather the through the floor. I don't want you to give my guest a heart attack...yet."

It didn't take them long to show up in the commander's room with their treasured photo album and a medium sized treasure chest.

"All right boys," Jiru said as the boys settled themselves. "This is my friend, uh, Bob."

Bob? What the hell kind of name is that? So much for information specialist if the guy can't even remember a name. 'Bob' waved his hand to the boys, figuring being friendly is the best way to go.

Jiru promised him that if he could entertain the boys until they're satisfied, then Whitebeard will let him go. If not, then he'll have to give up and give them the information they want or face torture. Bob isn't stupid enough to think that he could get away unscathed fighting this crew. If only they'd just kill him, it'd be so much easier. But this? This is the best trade off ever. He's great with kids. All he has to do is make them happy, and he's home free. Whitebeard pirates must not understand how easy kids are if they think this'll make him talk.

"What do you have there, boys," Bob gestured to the overly large book sitting next to Sabo.

"We'd thought it'd be easier to have pictures to go with our stories," Ace answered as he reached over Sabo's lap to pull the book to rest on both of their laps.

"Oh? What kind of stories are you going to tell me?" Bob asked, thinking the boys were going to tell him a story that would somehow make him break. Ha! As if some kid's story would break him. He's never going to talk.

"Our adventures!" they both answered excitedly.

Ok. That wasn't what he was expecting. It's probably going to be some random adventures about finding caves or something, he thought.

The blond opened up the book and held it up for Bob, "This is Luffy, our other brother."

"Oh? Where is he now?"

"He's keep Pops company, while he does paperwork," Ace answered as he dug around the treasure chest next to him. He finally pulled out what he was looking for and held up a large, sharp tooth. "This is from Luffy's first boar that he killed on his own. The chefs were nice enough to clean it up so we could keep it."

"We were on this strange island that had lots of cool animals. We were really wanting the colorful bird, but it kept getting away from us."

"Luffy did manage to get himself carried away by it though, when it grabbed him." They took turns telling their tale.

"And then when it finally landed with Luffy still in it's grip,"

"a boar came out and charged at the bird."

"Then Luffy, wanting to save the cool bird that took him flying, decided to attack it."

"We finally caught up with him and found him smacking the boar with a stick and biting it and kicking it,"

"so we helped, but Luffy ended up finally shooting it with his gun."

"Gun?" Who the hell gives kids a gun?

Sabo flipped through the pages of the album again and showed him the gun that was strapped on Luffy's leg. "It was a gift, so he always carries one."

Bob decided not to comment on the fact that the kid could have just shot the thing to begin with or use the knife that's strapped on the other leg.

"It's not as big as the ones we used to see where we used to live, but not bad for a six-year-old, right?"

Six? The kid was only six? No wait. Back up. Not big? By the size of that teeth, that's got to be a decent sized boar. He didn't even get to comment as they plowed right on.

"Oh! And this is when..."

/*-

It was one outrageous story right after another. After a while, Bob looked over to see Jiru doing some work at a desk, not even paying attention to what the boys were saying. How can anyone sit through this? It was mostly Luffy this, Luffy that. Barely any adventures at all, unless you count all of this Luffy's mishaps. How can one kid get into this much trouble? Maybe they were all make-believe. They're just tall tales to make it sound better. Kids likes to exaggerate, right?

Now that he really thinks about it, where did these kids come from? Are they docked and these kids were invited on board? What kind of parents would even let their kids on a pirate ship? No, no. These kids have traveled around. Maybe they're from a merchant's ship. There's no way they're with Whitebeard, are they? No respectable pirate would have kids this young on their ship, unless they're slaves. But these kids has too much freedom to be slaves. One of the crew member's child?

"Are you okay?" Sabo asked Bob, breaking the man out of his thoughts. "You spaced out."

It was that moment that the ship lurched violently, causing Bob to fall of his chair, while the boys just sat there as if it were a normal occurrence.

"Maybe he's hungry. You want some snacks?" Ace asked.

Bob slowly got back up, readying himself for if another large waves comes by. He nodded. Yes, a snack would be great. It'd be a great break that he'd need from listening to the boys going on and on about some Luffy character that he does not ever want to meet if the stories are true and not made up. And his ears are burning from listening to those two ramble nonstop.

There was a knock on the door just before it opened. Jiru finally moved to turn his head to face the door and took out his ear plugs. EAR PLUGS! Bob couldn't believe the damn commander was using ear plugs just so he didn't have to listen to the boys ramble!

The First Division Commander came in with two large trays of food. "Thatch said you boys might want some snacks right about now, so he made you something."

"Pops! Snacks!" the two boys called out, before hopping of the bed and over to the blond commander.

And that was when Bob finally noticed a small body push it's way between Marco's legs, and the poor prisoner fell off the chair again. Instead of trying to get back on, he crawled as far away as he could from the group at the door.

Marco raised an eyebrow at him before turning to Jiru. "Your friend?"

"Yeah," the other commander waved a hand over to his prisoner. "Greg."

"Thought you said his name was Bob?" Sabo asked.

"Greg, Bob, whatever."

"Hey, Luffy," Ace asked as he looked over his younger brother, "why are you wet?"

"A sea king came up and tried to eat me again, but Namur beat it up before it could eat me. And then I slipped and fell over, so Namur had to get me out."

Oh, so the stories about the kid being nearly eaten is true? No, wait. There were stories where he was eaten but then saved before being digested. Oh God! They just called the First Commander Pops! How does that even work? Are they really his kids? No, no, no. That's not important right now. What is important is the fact that Luffy is looking his way.

Marco smirked when he saw 'Greg' flinched when Luffy turned his attention on the man. "Your friend seems ready," Marco commented when the man started shaking when Luffy took a step towards him.

"Hey, Ace, Sabo," Luffy said. His wide eyes caused 'Greg' to start sweating. "Why's he scared?"

At this point the prisoner was waving his hands around in front of him, trying to keep the boy away from him. If he could form words, he'd be yelling by now, but as it is, his mouth just isn't cooperating with him.

"Huh. That's weird. We just told him stories of adventures that we've had," Sabo said as he scratched his head.

Marco turned to Jiru with a humored look. "Why didn't you just give him up to the boys like usual? You know the boys like having bait for sea kings."

Bait?! They really do that?!

"Thought this would be less clean up," Jiru shrugged.

"Wait!" Both Ace and Sabo shouted, causing the prisoner to curl up on himself. "You made us tell stories to a prisoner?"

"I thought you'd like to have someone new to talk about Luffy. Besides, baits take too long to crack, and this guy is almost ready in just an hour."

The boys just grabbed the plates from Marco and stormed out of the room, with Luffy following. Once Luffy left, the prisoner finally uncurled himself but was unable to stop his shaking from his near encounter with the infamous, cute, adorable, awesome little brother.

"The boys are mad at you," Marco smirked at Jiru.

The speedy commander swiped a hand over his face and sighed. "I can tell. Now I've got two angry kids on my tail."

"Good luck," Marco laughed before leaving.

"Great," Jiru muttered, glaring at his 'friend.' "Do you know what I'm going to have to deal with now? The crew's been in so many insane situation since those boys joined, and that's saying a lot, considering we've sailed all over Grand Line. If only you cracked earlier. So what'll it be? Talk now, or bait?"

"T-T-TALK! I'll talk now. Please don't make me sit through that again!" The prisoner said so fast that Jiru almost couldn't understand him. "Please! I don't want to be anywhere near them! Luffy! Oh my God! Luffy! He's real! And his ON THIS SHIP! What kind of kid tries to befriend a _tiger_ and want to keep it as a _pet_?" Jiru waited patiently with a grin as the man continued to wail about the many stories the boys told him. It's the most he could do after making the poor guy sit through the boys' rambling of their baby brother.

Jiru's actually quiet pleased that his idea worked. It's just too bad the boys won't do it again. "You know, all those stories they told you were all true. Marco was with them most of the time and confirmed their stories." His grin grew more wicked as the man quickly spouted all the information he knew, even the irrelevant things that Jiru didn't care to know.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Sorry, I tried, but I couldn't think of any Luffy stories that would strick horror into grown men.

I'm just going to post one more omake. So the next one is the last. I originally had planed to post up 8, but it's taking me too long to get these out because of my new schedule (I blame my school for closing), and I really want to start on the sequel. So just one more~ ^_^v


	35. Omake 6

**Omake 8**

petite lili: asl trio somehow getting sent to the Canon whitebeard pirate ship

(This takes place after they got their powers and before Law joined. Ace and Sabo 13; Luffy 10. Canon Teach is on a mission somewhere, so ASL doesn't meet him.)

 **A/N:** I originally wanted to only do missing scenes, but this sounded fun. And it was! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° I hope you like this omake as much as I had fun writing it.

* * *

Marco could tell it was time for him to wake up and start his day. His room was bright enough for him to see it was already morning from behind his eyelids. After mentally going over the list of things he needed to do for the day in his mind, he decided that there wasn't anything that couldn't wait at least another five minutes. With that thought, he turned over on his stomach and shoved his face into his pillow to filter out some of the sunlight.

Just as he settled himself, he felt a puff of warm air against his left shoulder. He tensed as he slowly opened his eyes to see who, it had to be a who and not a what because what could possible in his bed that breathed warm air, was in his bed with him. He didn't remember visiting a brothel, not to mention that he's sure he's still on the ship because of the soft rocking of the waves. Unless he was actually drunk enough from their party last night that he didn't remember bringing a woman on board to his room, which he didn't think was possible. His Devil's Fruit power doesn't let him get that drunk, or at least he that's what he thought.

When his eyes finally focused, he saw a tuff of black hair on what he supposed was a small head. He couldn't tell, seeing as the head and the rest of the body are hiding under the blanket. Dread set in as he removed the blanket to see the rest of the body. There, laying on his bed, was a small boy, looking no older than six or seven wearing his purple jacket.

Shock. That's what he was feeling. Shock. Shocked that there is an unknown kid in his bed. Shocked that said unknown kid is wearing _his_ shirt. Shocked that he has no fucking idea where this kid came from. So shocked that he unintentionally screamed and kicked the boy off his bed and into the far wall. The sound of the boy crying out in pain from his kick and the landing snapped Marco out of his shock.

He quickly got off his bed to rush to help the boy. In his rush, he didn't notice two other boys sit up from the floor next to his bed and rub their eyes, about ready to question what all the noise was. They didn't get a chance to voice their question as the First Division Commander trip over them, causing the three of the to fall in a painful heap.

"Oww," the two boys he tripped over complained as they rubbed their heads, "what was that for?"

"What was that for? What was that for?! What are you kids doing in my room?!" Marco screeched, causing both boys to flinch and cover their ears.

"You never got mad before," the darker hair of the two said.

"Huh?" He didn't have time to process what was said when his door was flung open by Ace with the rest of the commanders behind him.

"Marco! What happened? We heard a scream and lots of noise. Did you take out the intruder?"

Marco sighed from his place on the floor and ran a hand through his hair. Leave it to Ace to assume there's an intruder in his room, ignoring the fact that the intruder would have had to sneak pass everyone else on watch. "Everything is fine, though we do have intruders-yoi." He pointed to the two boys near his bed before getting up to check on the one he kicked.

The kid was sitting here happily as if he wasn't just kicked and knocked into a wall, holding his arms out, asking to be carried. Marco picked the kid up but wasn't able to check him for injuries as the boy grabbed his neck for a hug and pouted. "Pops, why did you kick me? Is it time for breakfast?"

The man went stiff under the boy's arms. Pops? When did that happen?

There was a chuckle behind them before Ace spoke. "I think you got the wrong person, kid. Pops is outside." Now that Ace has a better look at the kid, he couldn't take his eyes off of him. His eyes narrowed as he studied the boy in Marco's arm, trying to figure out why the kid looks so familiar.

"Ace?" the kid asked with his head tilted to the side.

"What?" the dark haired kid behind them answered before Ace could ask how the kid knew his name. That caused everyone in the hall, Marco, and Ace to look at the freckled kid. "What?" the kid asked again in irritation when they all looked at him.

Marco heaved a sigh. "You know what? Let's finish this top-side. My room isn't made for this many people-yoi."

The group of commanders made their way up to the top deck with Marco still holding the small kid, the other two kids walking on either side of Marco, and Ace bringing up the rear. The walk was no where near quiet as most of them grumbled about their hangover. There was no way any of them were able to think of how the kids could have gotten into Marco's room this early after a night of partying.

For some odd reason, Ace just couldn't take his eyes off the three kids. There were something familiar about all three of them, but he just couldn't figure out what. That one kid answered when his name was called. Does that mean the kid's name is Ace too? There was pause in his thinking as he unconsciously followed everyone else. His eyes flicked over to the blond on the other side of Marco, then widened as a thought came to him. It couldn't be. Slowly, his eyes went up to the kid in Marco's arms to see the kid staring right back at him. When he saw the scar right under the boy's left eye, it finally clicked.

"Luffy?" he asked, though his voice came out quiet and sounded like he was being strangled, he wasn't sure if the kid heard.

"Ace," the kid chirped back happily. Meanwhile, the other dark haired kid looked at the tiny Luffy in Marco's arms, asking what he wanted.

Ace didn't hear the response as he was having a mental break down. No, no, nonononono. NO! "OH MY GOD! NOOOOO! I KNOW STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN IN GRANDLINE, BUT WHY?! WHY THE TURKEY?!" He screamed as he clutched his head in agony.

His outburst came just as they exited the halls of the commanders' bedroom.

"Really, Ace? Of all the things to be worried about, that's what you yell about-yoi?" Marco glared at him.

"Guys, you might want to calm down. You're scaring the kids," Thatch said. They both turned to see the two older kids glaring at Ace with flames on their fists, ready to fight.

Everyone around them looked at the kids in wide eyes, then looked to Ace. "Mera Mera no Mi?" a passing crew member asked hesitantly.

"Well, that's different," Ace said bewildered. "I didn't get mine until after I set out. I didn't know two people can have the same powers."

"Don't you mean three?" Kingdew asked.

"Hey, Pops," Luffy tugged on the First Mate's shirt. "I'm hungry. Can we eat yet?"

"Luffy, stop," Ace practically whined. "Don't call him that, please."

"You know these kids?" Haruta looked at Ace in surprise.

Marco heaved a sigh. "Why don't we get something to eat first and then see Pops. Maybe we can get some explanation as to how these kids got here-yoi."

All three kids cheered as the two older ones ran towards the galley.

"Hey, wait," Haruta held out a hand to stop them and gave up. "Do they even know where to go on a ship this big?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they knew where everything is on this ship-yoi," Marco replied as they resumed their walk. He shifted the weight of the boy in his arms to his other side.

"Ace and Sabo knows where the galley is," Luffy turned his wide eyes to Haruta. "We go there everyday. Did Haruta forget where it is?"

"Of course I know where it is, kid," Haruta gave the kid a glare. "How do you know where it is? And how do you know my name? We don't even know you!"

Ace watched in horror as the lips on the kid started to quiver and eyes start to water. "Oh, no nononono." He quickly took the from Marco and hugged Luffy's head to his neck. "Don't cry, don't you dare cry." Ace then turned angry eyes to Haruta. "Haruta, apologize right now."

"Why?" He asked as they walked through the doors of the galley.

"This idiot is damn loud if you make him cry, and it's your fault. So apologize," Ace retorted.

"Well, what do you know?" Vista said, pointing. "The kids do know where they were going."

The commanders turned their head to their table to see the two older kids sitting and waiting for them.

"Thatch, hurry up! Food!" They both called out.

Thatch rubbed the back of his head resignedly as he walked towards the kitchen area. "I guess I'll go get our breakfast then."

"Better bring out a lot more than usual," Ace said with a frown as Luffy sniffled. "A _lot_ more."

The two boys stood on the bench as they neared, looking to Luffy in worry as Ace rubbed the boy's back soothingly. They then glared at Ace and lit their shoulders on fire. "What did you do to our brother?"

"Technically, he's my brother too," Ace muttered. No one but Luffy heard him. He set Luffy down on the bench, when the boy wiggled to be free.

The boy ran into both of his brothers' arms and wailed, "Haruta don't remember me!"

"I don't think anyone here besides flame brain knows who you brats are," Haruta jerked a thumb in Ace's direction, a little put off that he's the reason why a kid is crying.

"Think about it-yoi," Marco said as they all took a seat when Thatch came back with a few other chefs and trays of food for their table. "They obviously know you and Thatch by names and most likely everyone else here."

"We don't know him," the two older kids pointed to Ace with a glare, not liking that this unknown person was holding their brother.

Marco ignored that and continued on. "Look at that kid very carefully, and I'm sure you'll recognize him," he pointed to the older brunette boy. "Don't forget their display of Devil Fruit's power-yoi."

"While you guys figure it out, I'm eating," Ace said as he took a seat next to the kids and starts shoveling food in his mouth. "And Thatch," he said with his mouth full. "We're going to need more food."

"Huh? But I did bring extra food," Thatch said, confused. "For the kids, right?" He stopped the last of his helper and asked him to bring more food anyway.

"Yeah, but you only brought enough for normal kids-yoi," Marco pointed to the three small plates set in front of the kids, who haven't even looked at their food yet. The two older ones were still trying to console the youngest.

"I could finish off half a bear at their age," Ace commented as he ate.

There was a collective slamming of hands on the table, causing the plates to clatter, as the commanders all stood from their seats to stare at the kids, specifically the older kid with dark hair. The kids were startled enough to look at them with wide eyes of confusion and fear. Even Luffy was startled enough to stop crying and looked at them fearfully and gripped his brothers' shirts.

Then as one, the commanders look to Ace, then back to the kid, and back again.

Ace merely nodded, knowing what they're thinking.

"No way," Haruta whispered.

"How'd that happen?" Vista asked as he twisted the ends of his mustache.

By this point, more food has been delivered to the table, and Thatch had to ask for more because there was no way that was enough for even one little Ace.

"Why are you guys staring at us?" the two older kids asked.

"Because we just realized that you _really_ don't belong here," Haruta answered.

"What's that supposed to mean!" the two older kids yelled as the youngest began to wailed, "They don't want us anymore!"

"Aww, come on, Luffy," Ace waved a drumstick in front of Luffy. "That's not what he meant. Here, have this. It'll calm you down." What Ace really wanted to do was punch the kid on the head, but he didn't want the other two to retaliate, especially when they look like they were ready to bite his head off. There's no need for that right now.

Luffy sniffled before tentatively taking the offered meat. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Ace said as he went back to his food. "What he meant was that you guys are from a different dimension. You're in the right place and yet, not."

"What's that mean?"

"It's kind of like being on the other side of a mirror," the blond kid explained. "You know how everything looks the same when you look in the mirror?" Luffy nodded. "Well, it's kind of like that."

"So we need to go back to the other side, and everybody will remember us?"

"Yeah," the blond agreed.

Luffy cheered and went on to attack the food laid out for them.

"Leave it to Sabo to know how to make Luffy to understand. Guys, meet, Luffy, Sabo, and me," Ace said as he pointed to each of the kids.

"How do you know they're from a different dimension, rather than your past?" Namur asked as the kids started eating, though the younger Ace and Sabo were listening.

"Because of a lot of things. I didn't get my Devil's Fruit until after I set sail, I think it was about a year ago. I'm three years older than Luffy. This Luffy looks much younger, and he talks funny. I've never pampered Luffy. Sabo was the nicer brother, but even he didn't pamper the kid. Sabo died when we were only ten. And the biggest one that I'm surprised you didn't pick up is that I didn't live on Moby Dick when I was their age," the older Ace explained. "They know you guys and called Marco 'Pops.'"

"Luffy's still three years younger than us," Ace and Sabo said, not looking at them as they continued their eating. "He just needs more food so he can grow more. We're thirteen."

Thatch quickly got up mid-eating to rush to the kitchen once he's seen how the kids eat. It was apparent that what was brought out is not nearly enough. Especially if the youngest one needs more food. The kid looks like he's seven, not ten! He's getting them more food.

"What's gotten into Thatch?" Blamenco asked.

The older Ace smirked as he replied. "He must have realized that my brothers eat just as much as I do."

"And another thing," Ace sighed, "I was never this in sync with Sabo. You guys are weird. And how the hell did you both end up with the same fruit powers anyway?"

The two kids shrugged. "We both ate the Mera Mera no Mi."

"That still doesn't guarantee that two people would get the same power," Jiru said. "The marines have done tests, and it's always one fruit power to one person until that person dies."

"We're special," they shrugged again.

Thatch rushed back with a few others trailing behind him and placed more food in front of the boys. "Is this enough?" he asked frantically.

Younger Ace and Sabo looked at the food before nodding and went back to eat.

"Oh good. By the way, Ace," Thatch looked towards the commander with a grin, "why were you freaking out earlier?"

Older Ace sent Thatch a glare, "How would you feel if a version of you called Marco 'Pops'?" Ace nodded in agreement after seeing Thatch's grin fall into an indescribable horrified look. "Right?"

"So how did you boys end up with us?" Izo asked, ignoring the idiots.

"We kidnapped Pops. Then Grandpa told Grandpops to keep us, and Grandpops said okay. So we stayed," Luffy answered happily.

"Wait, what?" Ace, along with all the other commanders gave the kid a confused look.

"It all started with us kidnapping Marco," Sabo translated. "And the idiot we kidnapped him for called Whitebeard up for ransom. Of course that didn't go well. We ended up staying on your ship for the time being. I'm assuming Whitebeard called Garp to take us to some orphanage, and well, you know," Sabo tilted his head to the older Ace, "we couldn't be left at some unknown place, and we couldn't go back to Dawn. So Garp asked Whitebeard to take care of us."

"The shitty old geezer asked a _pirate_ to take care of you?!" Ace asked at the same time as a few other questions. "You kids kidnapped Marco?!" "You're related to Garp?!" How did Marco end up as Pops?"

A loud laugh interrupted anything anyone else was about to day. "Everyone's so lively today," Whitebeard laughed as he entered the galley and took a seat at the end of the commander's table. "Where did you boys come from?" he asked the kids with a warm smile, not wanting to scare them.

"Marco's bed," Thatch answered with a snicker.

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at that, causing Marco to sigh, again. He pointed to each of the kids, "They're from a different dimension. That's Ace, and his brothers Sabo and Luffy."

Luffy held his arms out to Whitebeard, "Grandpops!" He wanted to give the man a hug, but his brothers held him back.

"That's not Grandpops, Luffy," they both said. "Remember? We're in a mirror. This one doesn't know us."

"Oh," Luffy looked down to his lap sadly.

Whitebeard offered the boys a friendly smile and held out a hand to the boy, who immediately took hold. The captain brought the boy to his lap. "Nonsense. If one of my self has grandchildren, then so do I. I'll be your grandpops until you get back to your own place." He gave the smiling boy a rub on the head. Luffy then went on to tell the older man about how his life and how much fun he had on the other side of the mirror. Whitebeard smiled at the boy throughout the boy's rambling but kept half an ear on the conversation taking place with the commanders.

"So now we have to figure out how to get the boys back," Atmos said as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought.

"What's the last thing you boys remember-yoi?" Marco asked.

"Sneaking into your room because you took Luffy from us," both Ace and Sabo answered with a straight face.

"Wait," Thatch held out a hand to stop the boys from continuing. "Why would Marco take Luffy?"

"Because we burned down a bar," the younger Ace explained. "So Pops gets to sleep with Luffy for a month. It's been a week, but Pops hasn't stopped us from sneaking into his room."

"You burned down a bar," Vista looked at them disbelievingly.

"It's part of our training," Sabo elaborated. "He takes us to a rowdy bar, and if someone starts shit with us, we fight them. If we burn any piece of furniture, we have to pay the owner and Pops for it. But if we burn the whole place down, then he sleeps with Luffy for a month."

"Marco! How could you?" Thatch pointed at the first commander accusingly. "That's extortion and very dangerous."

"Hey!"

"How is that punishment?" the older Ace looked at them with confusion. "I'd be more than happy to sleep without Luffy. He moves around too much and tends to kick me or steal my blanket."

"He was raised with very limited space to sleep," the young Ace grumbled.

"Add to that, poor health," Sabo said, looking to his lap. "We don't want to talk about it," he added when Marco raised an eyebrow. Sabo gave a quick look to Luffy to make sure his brother was still too occupied to listen to them.

"So nothing strange happened that day or anything that would cause this to happen-yoi?"

"Not that we can remember. We were on the ship all day," they both said.

The older Ace raised his hands in surrender and sighed. "Well, that's no help."

"So then, how did you boys end up calling Marco 'Pops,' rather than Whitebeard?" Thatch asked eagerly, wanting to learn more about the boys.

"Shanks thought we were his sons but all with different mothers," young Ace smirked.

"So Luffy thought that's what Marco was, a Pops. We went along with it for fun, but it stuck," Sabo said with an amused smile.

"It's not too bad, though," Ace continued. "My dad died before I actually got to know him, Sabo's dad is an ass, and Luffy doesn't know his."

"Not to mention Marco did save us and gave us the freedom we wanted," Sabo added. "It was funny to see him twitch every time we called him that at first. I think it took him a few months to finally give up and got used to it."

"You said Sabo died here but where's Luffy?" young Ace asked his older self.

"I left him at home. Dadan and Makino are watching him. He's setting off for his own adventure next year."

"Home?" the two young teens asked in surprise. "He has a home? He lives with Dadan?"

"Yeah," the older Ace said slowly, not sure why they're surprised. "He's lived with the bandit since he was seven. Before that, I think he was with Makino. The crazy geezer didn't like that Shanks influenced him so much to be a Pirate King, so he took the snot nosed brat down to Dadan. So I take it, that didn't happen in your place?"

"No," young Ace shook his head sadly. "We met on a ship. He was only two, we were told. Didn't know how old he was back then, just that he was super tiny and could barely walk without tripping over nothing."

Marco signaled over to someone behind them, and they saw Bekky walk over to Marco's side.

"Bekky!" the war cry was all the warning he needed before Bekky had his arms full of Luffy, who had just flung himself onto the man.

"Good, you know him too," Marco said before addressing his next in command. "This is Luffy. He and his brothers," he waved his hands towards the other two kids, "will be staying with us until we figure out how to get them home. Take that kid out to the deck and play with him. Keep him safe."

"Uh, okay?" Bekky said with confusion. He wasn't going to ask anything further and just do as he was told. He's sure it'll all be explained to him eventually.

"Now that Luffy isn't here-yoi," Marco said seriously, "why don't you tell us how you really end up staying with us? I'm sure Pops and the rest of us wouldn't have agreed to keep kids on a pirate ship, such as ours, unless it was a special case."

"I really don't want to talk about it," Sabo said quietly.

"Same here," the younger Ace said with his arms crossed.

As the commanders tried to pry some kind of info from the kids, someone came rushing in and the start of fighting could be heard outside. "We're being attacked," he simply reported.

"And why are we being told this now-yoi?" Marco scowled.

"Well, they were just following us and doing nothing, so we didn't think they had the guts?" the man said sheepishly.

"Got everything under control out there?" Haruta asked.

"Yup, no problems out here," the man said before going back out, only to come right back in. "I take that back. It's complete chaos now. The kid Bekky brought out is all over the place."

"Luffy!" the older Ace cried out. "I forgot he's out there!"

"He's fine," both the kids said without worries, even though they both got up to go outside with the rest of the commanders to see what was going on and possibly save Luffy.

"How can you say that so calmly?" Thatch cried out. "There's a battle out there with pistols and swords and stuff. It's dangerous!"

"We're used to being on a battlefield, and Luffy's probably out there having fun," they both shrugged.

They were proved right when the first sight that greeted them was of Bekky running around, chasing Luffy, who was hopping all over the place, laughing as he takes down enemy pirates, one after another, just by tripping them or jumping on their faces. The other Whitebeard Pirates were going around attempting to help Bekky catch Luffy before he hurts himself, while taking down the enemies.

"See?"

The commanders decided to just lean against the walls to watch, while Whitebeard took his seat at the top deck, watching over everyone as he usually does. They were all impressed with how flexible the boy is, jumping around, dodging and weaving in between people and legs. That all ended when a man they all assumed to be the captain, grabbed Luffy and pointed a gun at his head.

"Give us Whitebeard's head or else!" the man yelled, causing everyone to look at him.

"Opps," Luffy said, giggling as he's being held.

The Whitebeard Pirates who were fighting dropped their weapon and held their hands up in surrender, not wanting the child to get hurt.

"Or else what?" young Ace asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Or else I'll shoot the kid," the man gave them a creepy smile.

"And then what?"

"Ace-yoi," Marco hissed at the young teen.

"No, wait, Marco," the older Ace whispered from behind Marco, barely hiding a smile, "let's see how this goes. If anything, we can just fry them. Don't worry about Luffy."

"He'll be dead, of course! What are you, an idiot?" the other captain screamed.

"Nah. I think the idiot is you," Sabo said, suddenly appearing on the rail behind the man, with his pointer finger pointed at the captains head with his thumb up in a shape of a gun.

The sudden sound of someone behind him startled the captain but not enough for him to drop Luffy.

"We'll give you five seconds to drop our brother," the younger Ace said from his original position, not having made a move since coming out on deck, but this time he also had his pointer finger pointed at the man with his thumb up.

"Who the hell do you brats think you are? You think your fake gun is going to scare me? This isn't a game. And you, stop laughing!" The captain shook Luffy as the boy continued to giggle.

"Don't you know? All good ships have them. We're the ship's guardian. We let no one hurt our family," both of the young teens said with malicious grins, and they both held out their free hands and pulled their 'trigger' to show that their 'fake gu'n isn't so fake, as a small ball of fire shot out of their pointer fingers and hitting the tip of the mast, the only visible portion of the enemy's smaller ship, catching it on fire.

"Five," Sabo said, as the man starts to sweat.

As the two boys took turns counting down, the young teen with freckles starts his walk towards the captain. After a few steps, one of his men took a swing at him, only for the sword to go right through what looks like flames. Then another took a shot, only for the same thing to happen. The captain and his crew started to think that maybe the boy really were some sort of ship guardian. They displayed what looks the same powers as Fire Fist Ace, but it's impossible to have more than one person with the same power, much less three.

"Two," Ace said, and the man started to rethink attacking Whitebeard. Maybe he could take one of them down with him. He quickly glanced to his right where the nearest Whitebeard stood with his hands up, watching the boy in his arm with worry.

Before either one of them could say one, Luffy threw his head back, stretching his neck a bit, and brought it back as hard as he could at the captain's face. The force wasn't hard enough to knock the man out, but it did cause the man to let go of Luffy.

"Didn't you hear my brothers?" Luffy said with a blank look, standing on the man's chest with his small pistol pointed at the man's face. "No one hurts our family." With that parting words, Luffy shot the man in the forehead, killing him instantly.

"Luffy," Sabo scowled. "We didn't finish our count down yet."

"But he was going to shoot Bekky," Luffy pointed to the first division crew that was closest to him.

"Oh, well, then that's okay," Ace said as he approached his brothers, giving the dead captain a kick. "The rest of you should scram before we change our minds," he absently waved his hands behind him to the rest of the enemies.

The entire deck went quiet when Luffy fired his shot, surprised that a boy his age was able to kill someone without batting an eye. Once Ace told them to scram, the now captain-less crew scrambled to their now burning ship. They'll deal with the burning mast later. Right now, they need to get as far away as possible from Moby Dick.

The Whitebeard Pirates had all wanted to yell or scream or do something to help when young Ace was being attacked, but seeing as the brat hadn't made a move to defend himself and add to the fact that the older Ace's face, told them not to do a thing, they stood their grounds. After all was done and finished, they could only stare in shock, even after the enemies had fled.

Luffy looked over to the pirates left on deck with wide, fearful eyes and hid behind Ace. "Why is everybody looking at us like that? Did I do wrong?"

The second commander finally gave a strain laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "You didn't do anything wrong. We're just surprised, that's all." He tried to give Luffy a reassuring smile.

"You just killed the guy!" Vista blurted out soon after.

"Was I not supposed to?" Luffy asked with a pout.

"Luffy didn't do anything wrong!" both of the young teens shouted and stood protectively in front of Luffy, having finally remembered that these aren't their family. These people don't know them and didn't know what these pirates would do to them.

Marco and the older Ace glared at Vista for making the boys feel bad.

"That's not what he meant-yoi. We just didn't expect you kids to do something like that," Marco said to placate them.

"We may just be cabin boys for Moby Dick, but we're still pirates. We mean it when we say we won't let anyone hurt our family, different dimension or not," the young teens said, lowering their guard.

"Cabin boys? I actually thought you kids really were Moby's spirit, what with how you just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the sea," Bekky sighed in relief.

The older Ace finally walked up to them and ruffled Luffy's hair. "Funny how after Sabo died, I was left with a little brother to toughen up, and here you guys are kicking ass. Not bad."

The rest of that day was spent with the commanders spending time keeping the boys occupied, playing with them. A few of them were still trying to get some information of their past.

The kids slept in Marco's room that night, since that's where they wanted to sleep.

The next morning, Marco found them gone. He and everyone else looked for them, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Maybe they made it back home," Ace said.

"I hope so-yoi," Marco said tiredly.

Whitebeard had a thoughtful look on his face before he announced, "Grandkids are nice."

"No," was all Marco declared and walked away before someone decides to say something to annoy him again.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

 **A/N:** Opps. Didn't mean for it to be this long. My fingers just kept on going. :P Sorry for the bad ending. If I kept on going, this omake would have been too long. Also, I gave up going over it after three times. Every time I reread it, I'd add something else, and it'd get longer. So, sorry for any mistakes and strangeness.

Again, thank you everyone for following, favoring, and reviewing this story. I'm surprised I'm stilling getting new follows and favorites! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR READING~

I don't know when I'll have the sequel up, so just look for it. I hope you guys like that one too.

ʅ(◔౪◔ʅ)三(ʃ◔౪◔)ʃ (((#^-^)八(^_^*))) ＼(^ω^＼)( /^ω^)/

 **Owari**


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